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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ORDAINING WOMEN. 



-$ 






By Rev. By T. ROBERTS, A. M. 

Editor of "The Earnest Christian," 
Author of Fishers of Men, 
Why Another Sect, Etc. 



" There is neither Jew nor Greek, 
there is neither bond nor free, 
there is neither male nor female : 
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." 



-Galatians iii, -28* 




1891 






ROCHESTER, 1ST. Y. 
Earnest Christian Publishing H'ouse. 

1891. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1891, 

By B. T. ROBERTS, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. — Prejudices. Truth. The Duke of Argyll. 
Daniel Webster. Law of Force. Aristotle. Slavery Defended. 
"M. E. General Conference. Bishop Hopkins. G-ospel Misunder- 
stood. Lowell. Pages 10-13. 

Chapter IL — Woman's Legal Condition. Among the Ro- 
mans. Spartans. In Africa — Stanley. In England — John Stuart 
Mill. The Germans. Not owning her own Children in this Na- 
tion. 14-21. 

Chapter III. — Words. Bishop Berkeley. Primary Signifi- 
cation of Words. Importance of. Tertulliau. Various Mean- 
ings of the Same Word. Archbishop Trench. 22-25. 

Chapter IV.— Ordination. Views of Friends. Of Roman 
Catholics. Dr. Light£oot. Priests. Sacrifices. John Wesley. 
Daniel Webster. Its True Signification. Rev. H. J. VanDyke, 
Sr., D. D. Ordination of Deacons — of Elders— of Apostles. 
McClintock and Strong. Women. Whitefield. 26-40. 

Chapter V.— Objections— Old Testament. From Genesis. 
Matthew Henry. Dr. Adam Clarke. Christ. Primitive Law 
Re-enacted. Miriam. Deborah. 47-53. 

Chapter VI. — Objections— New Testament. Christ Not 
Quoted. The Twelve. Based on a Misunderstanding of Paul's 
Words. Rev. W. Gould. Answered. Dr. Adam Clarke. Keep- 
ing Silence in The Church not Literally Held. Explained. 
Madame Guyon. Women who Labored with Paul. Chrysostom. 
Whittier. 54-68. 

Chapter VII. —Ob jections— Natural. Physical. Aristotle. 
John Stuart Mill, Lowell. Women Soldiers. Artemisia. Am- 
azons. Bryant. Stanley. Joan of Arc. 69-78. 

Chapter VIII.— Women Apostles. Order of Apostles Per- 



CONTENTS. 



manent. Junia an Apostle. Dean Alford. Dr. Adam Clarke. 
Luther. Ctuwsostora. Olshausen. 79-85 

Charter IX.— Women Prophets. First Prophecy. Henry 
Melville. Dr. Adam Clarke. Bishop Home. Prophecy of Joel. 
Prophetess Anna. Primary Meaning of Prophesy. 86-92. 

Chapter X. — Deacons. Definition. Mosheim. New Testa- 
ment Deacons Preachers. Women Deacons. Their Qualifica- 
tions. Alford. Olshausen's Commentary. American Comment- 
ary. Jamieson, Fausett and Brown. Phebe. Pliny. 93-104. 

Chapter XI.— Deaconesses. Order of Deaconesses Same as 
Deacons. Mosheim. Practice of Modern Churches Inconsistent. 
The State. Maria Theresa. Tennyson. 105-110. 

Chapter XII.— Evangelizing the World. Finney. Slow 
Progress of Christianity. Causes. Stephen. Melancthon. Fran- 
ces Willard. 111-117. 

Chapter XIII.— Required. Command of Christ. Necessity 
in Oriental Countries. Miss Fannie J. Sparkes. Refusal Unjust. 
Maria Mitchell. 118-124. 

Chapter XIV.— Fitness. Testimony of a Skeptic. Women 
of Jerusalem. Spirit of. the Gospel. Clotilda. Bertha. Perma- 
nency of Wesley's Work due to his Mother. Miss Sewell. Wo- 
men Practical. The Great Plague of 1348. Port Royal. Their 
Intellect aal Ability. 125-133. 

Chapter XV. — Governing. Capacity for. Women took 
Part in Governing the Apostolic Church. Elizabeth. Catharine 
of Russia. Victoria. 139-149. 

Chapter XVI.— Heathen Testimony. Letter of Pliny. Com- 
ment upon it. 150-15 7. 

Csapter XVII.— Conclusion. 158-159. 
Index of Texts 1G0. 



TO 

(tttg (gefotjebTEife, 

WHO FOK FO..TY-TWO YEARS 

EAS FAITHFULLY STOOD BY ME IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY, 

Who has never shunned to be a partaker of the 

AFFLICTIONS OF THE GOSPEL, 

But has faced undismayed the fires of persecution, 

WHO HAS BEEN TO ME A CONSTANT INSPIRATION 
TO A FULLER UNDERSTANDING OF THE 

Mysteries of the Kingdom, 

fyfytBt $>a0eB are ($f fed tonafefg ©ebicafeb 

by The Author. 



PREFACE. 



I have written this book from a strong con- 
viction of duty. Christ commands lis to let 
our li^rht shine. 

There is no reason why this subject should 
not be considered as calmly and candidly as 
any other. We should not refuse to examine 
it in the light of Scripture and of reason because 
of any apprehension ol dreadful consequences 
if some women should be ordained. By the 
Friends, for over two hundred years, woman 
has been accorded the same rights as man, and 
yet she has lost none of her womanliness in 
consequence. Among no class of people are 
women more true, and modest, and domestic, 
and noble, and refined, and given to every good 
work than among them. Nowhere else can 
be found more beautiful, happy homes than in 
the Society of The Friends. 

Nor need we have any fearful forebodings, 
if giving to women equal rights in the church 
should lead to giving her equal rights in the 
state. This experiment too has been tried. 

United States senator Carey is reported as 



PREFACE. 



saying: "In the State of Wyoming woman 
has had the ballot for twenty years. None 
of the objections which are made to this 
extension of the suffrage had been found in 
actual practice, in his State, to have a good 
basis. The result there has been more than 
satisfactory. It was not true that women 
in. general took no interest in ... the question 
of suffrage. Those who were not originally 
advocates of it exercise their privileges when 
they once received them. There was fully 
as large a proportion of women who voted 
in his State to-day as of men. Anything that 
related at all to their interests was sure to 
bring out the full vote. He thought that the 
women gave more thought to the subject than 
the men, and were more conscientious in the 
exercise of their right. Their influence was 
exercised always on the side of good govern- 
ment and for the selection of the best men 
for office.. .Their influence in politics was of 
such a character as to make men more cir- 
cumspect in the transaction of the duties of 
public office. He added that it was a par- 
ticularly good element in all municipal elec- 
tions. Women, as a class^ can never be on 
the side of corruption, of the ignorant and 
the criminal elements which have such con- 



8 PREFACE. 



trol in the municipal affairs of the leading 
cities of the United States. " * 

I have purposely avoided all appeals to sen- 
timent and to '' the spirit of the age," and 
based my arguments mainly on the Word of 
God. Where texts have been interpreted 
contrary to the generally received meaning, 
reasons have been given, which, I trust, will 
be found satisfactory; I have endeavored to 
make everything plain. 

I ask as a special favor of those who have 
decided not to agree with the position I have 
take. i that they will read before they condemn. 
The subject is worthy of patient and prayerful 
investigation. 

I have no misgivinp a. as to the truth of what 
I have written, nor evil forebodings of the con- 
sequences that will result if the views herein 
advocated come to be generally received. 

I only ask that truth may prevail, Christ be 
glorified, and His Kingdom be advanced on 
earth. 



* T. Crawford in N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 22, 1891. 



ORDAINING WOMEN, 



CHAPTER i. 

PREJUDICE. 

" Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow ; 

He who would search for pearls must dive below." 

— Dry den. 

" He that would seriously set upon the search of truth, ought in 
the first place to prepare his mind with a love of it, for he that 
loves it not will not take much pains to get it, nor be much con- 
cerned when he misses it." — Locke. 

/j^HRIST lays great stress upon the truth. It 
7 has in it a saving quality. "Sanctify 
them through thy truth"— John 17:17. It is 
not possible for us to be sanctified only as far 
as we open our hearts to receive the truth, and 
inwardly resolve to obey it. The Holy Spirit 
is the spirit of truth. J no. 14:17. 

u Let us, ,? says the Duke of Argyl, " educate 
ourselves up to that high standard in the love 
of truth, under which we hate and disdain an 
intellectual fallacy as much as we hate and dis- 
dain a common lie." 

Then, to the rights of women under the Gos- 



10 OliDAINING WOMEN. 

pel, as an important question, we should give 
our candid attention. If prejudiced, we should, 
as Daniel Webster said, " Conquer our preju- 
dices." The feeling against woman's being ac- 
corded equal rights with man, is old and deeply 
rooted. .Generally, among mankind, the law 
of force has been the prevailing law. The 
stronger have tyrannized over the weaker. 

Aristotle was one of the greatest of the old 
Greek philosophers. In his book on Politics 
and Economics he wrote : " By nature some 
beings command, and others obey, for the sake 
of mutual safety ; for a being endowed with dis- 
cernment and forethought is, by nature, the 
superior and governor ; whereas he who is 
merely nble to execute by bodily labor is the 
inferior and a natural slave; and hence the 
interest of master and slave is identical."* 

"It is clear then, that some men are free by 
nature, and others are slaves, and that in the 
case of the latter, the lot of slavery is both ad- 
vantageous and just ' ' f 

Again, Aristotle wrote ; " The art of war 
is, in some sense, a part of the art of acquisi- 
tion : for hunting is a part of it, which it is 
necessary for us to employ against wild beasts, 
and against those of mankind who, being in- 



* Book .1 Ch. 2, p. 4. 1 Book 2, Ch. 5, p. 13. 



PREJUDICE. 11 

tended by nature for slavery, are unwilling 
to submit to it, and on this occasion, such a 
war is by nature just"* 

Until recently, as long as there was any 
slavery to tolerate, human slavery was tolerated 
by the leading churches of this country. Rea- 
son and revelation were appealed to in defence 
of the practice of human slavery. No longer 
ago than 1836 the General Conference of the 
M. E. Church took the following action, as re- 
corded on its journal : 

" Resolved by the delegates of the Annual 
Conferences in General Conference assembled : 

1. That they disapprove, in the most unqual- 
ified sense, the conduct of two members of the 
General Conference who are reported to have 
lectured in this city recently upon, and in 
favor of modern Abolitionism. 

2. That they are decidedly opposed to mod- 
ern Abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any 
right, wish, or intention to interfere in the 
civil and political relation between master and 
slave as it exists in the slave holding States of 
this Union." 

Some time after slavery was abolished by 
war, the above resolutions were repealed, and 
another General Conference of the same Church 



* Ch. 8, pp. 19, 20. 



12 ORDAINING WOMEN". 

passed a resolution to the effect that it was a mat- 
ter of congratulation that the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church had always taken the lead of the 
sister churches in the anti-slavery movement, 

About thirty years ago the Right Rev, John 
Henry Hopkins, D. D., LL. D., one of the 
learned men of his day, and the Protestant 
Episcopal Bishop of the diocese of Vermont, 
wrote and published a book in which he en" 
deavored 1o prove that human slavery, as it 
then existed in these United States, was sup- 
ported by " the authority of the Bibla, the 
writings of the Father*, the decrees of Coun- 
cils, the concurrent judgment of Protestant 
divines, and the Constitution." The efforts to 
overthrow it he characterized as the " assaults 
of mistaken philanthropy, in union with in- 
fidelity, fanaticism, and political expediency." 

If those who stood high as interpreters of 
Reason and Revelation, and who expressed the 
prevailing sentiment of their day, were so 
greatly mistaken on a subject which we now 
think so plain that it does not admit of dispute, 
that every man has a right to freedom, is it 
not possible that the current sentiment as to 
the position which woman should be permitted 
to occupy in the Church of Christ may also 
be wrong ? 



PREJUDICE. 13 



Reader, will you admit this possibility ? 
Will you sit as an impartial juror in the case, 
and carefully weigh the evidence we may pre- 
sent? 

! It has taKen the world a long while to under- 
derstand the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; and even 
now it is but imperfectly understood. 

We cannot ascertain the truth of au opinion 
by inquiries about its age. Let us decide that 
as the Church did, for ages, misinterpret the 
teachings of the Bible on the subject of slavery, 
soil may no'v fail to apprehend its teaching 
on the question of woman's rights. 

Christian men and women should not wait 
until a righteous cause is popular before they 
give it their influence. Those who do, are sim- 
ply following fashion, while they may think 
the}' are following the Lord. 

" These loud ancestral boasts of yours, 

How can they else than vex us ? 
Where were your dinner orators 

W 7 hen slavery grasped at Texas ? 
Dumb on his knees was every one 

That now is bold as Csesar ; 

Mere pegs to hang an office on, 

Such stalwart men as these are." 

— Lowell, 

It is not enough to say that the right will 
ultimately triumph ; if we claim to be right- 
eous we should help make the right triumph. 



14 woman's legal condition. 



CHAPTER II. 
woman's legal condition. 

" There is who hopes (his neighbor's worth depressed), 

Pre-eminence himself ; and covets hence, 

For his own greatness that another fall. " 

— Dante. 

If N most nations, except Jewish and Christian, 
the condition of woman has been, from time 
immemorial, one of slavery. She was sold in 
marriage. Rome has given laws to the world, 
yet the young Roman, says Gibbon, " accord- 
ing to the custom of antiquity bought his 
bride of her parents, and she fulfilled the co- 
emption by purchasing, with three pieces of 
copper, a just introduction to his house and 
household deities." Her servitude was deco- 
rated by the title of "adoption," and, by a 
legal fiction, she became the " daughter" of 
her husband and the " sister" of her own 
children, Parental power in its fullest extent 
belonged to the husband in relation to the 
wife, as well as to the children. " By his 
judgment or caprice her behavior was approved 
or censured, or chastised ; he exercised the 



woman's legal condition. 15 

jurisdiction of life and death ; and it was 
allowed, that in the case of adultery or drunk- 
enness, the sentence might be properly in- 
flicted. She acquired and inherited for the 
sole profit of her lord ; and so clearly was wo- 
man defined, not as a person, but as a thing, 
that, if the original title were deficient, she 
might be claimed, like other movables, by the 
use and possession of an entire year."* 

The Spartan women were given the same 
physical training as men, and, as a conse- 
quence, they were more free in fact than the 
women of any other country of that age. 
"There can be little doubt," says Mill, "that 
Spartan experience suggested to Plato, among 
many other of his doctrines, that of the social 
and political equality of the sexes." Still, 
by law, in Sparta, as in the rest of Greece, 
the state of woman was that of subjection. 

Stanley, writing of Central Africa, says : 
" Though a woman is as much a chattel in 
these lands as any article their lords may 
own, and is priced at from one to five head of 
cattle, she is held in honor and esteem, and 
she possesses rights which may not be over- 
looked with impunity. The dower stock may 
have been surrendered to the father, but if 

* Gibbon's Rome 4, 345. 



16 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

she be ill used she can easily contrive at some 
time to return to her parents, and before she 
be restored, the husband must repurchase her, 
and as cattle are valuable, he is likely to bridle 
his temper. Besides, there is the discomfort 
of the cold hearth, and the chilly arrangement 
of the household, which soon S3rve to subdue 
the tyrant."* 

Though Christianity has greatly ameliorated 
the condition of woman, it has not secured for 
her, even in the most enlightened nations, that 
equality which the Gospel inculcates. A writer 
of only thirty years ago said : "The German 
women of the lower, and to some extent of the 
middle classes, aire subjected to greater hard- 
ships than the women of any other nation of 
Europe. The farm laborer, the mechanic, and 
even the small farmer, makes his wife or mother 
his drudge, and compels her to perform the 
most menial and severe labors, while he sits or 
w;«lks by her side unemployed, smoking his 
pipe. Within a few years, American citizens 
have witnessed, in Vienna, women acting as 
masons' tenders, carrying bricks and mortar 
up to the walls of lofty brick buildings in 
course of erection, "f 



* In Darkest Africa, vol. 2, p. 394. 

t Woman, by L. P. Brackett, M. D., p. 55. 



woman's legal condition. 17 

John Stuart Mill, an English writer of 
highest authority, says : 

" By the old laws of England, the husband 
was called the lord of the wife ; he was liter- 
ally regarded as her sovereign, inasmuch that 
the murder of a man by his wife was called 
treason (petty as distinguished from high trea- 
son^, and was more cruelly avenged than was 
usually the case with high treason, for the 
penalty was burning to death. Because these 
various enormities have fallen into disuse (for 
most of them were never formally abolished, 
or not until they had long ceased to be prac- 
ticed) ; men suppose that all is now as it should 
be in regard to the marriage contract ; and we 
are continually told that civilization and Chris- 
tianity have restored to the woman her just 
rights. Meanwhile tlie wife is the actual bond- 
servant of her husband ; no less so, as far as 
legal obligation goes, than slaves commonly so 
called. She vows a life-long obedience to him 
at the altar, and is held to it all through her 
life by law. Casuists may say that the obli- 
gation of obedience stops short of participation 
in crime, but it certainly extends to eveiything 
else. She can do no act whatever but by his 
permission, at least tacit. She can acquire no 
property but for him ; the instant it becomes 



18 ORDAINING WOMEN 



hers, even if by inheritance, it becomes ipso 
facto his. In this respect the wife's position 
under the common law of England is worse 
than that of slaves in the laws of many coun- 
tries ; by the Roman law, for example, a slave 
might have his peculium, which, to a certain 
extent, the law guaranteed to him for his exclu- 
sive u-e. The higher clas es in this country 
give an analogous advantage to their women, 
through special contracts setting aside the 
law, by conditions of pin-money, etc., etc.; 
since parental feeling being stronger with 
fathers than the class feeling of their own sex, 
a father generally prefers his own daughter to 
a son in law who is a stranger to him. By 
means of settlements, the rich usually contrive 
to withdraw the whole or part of the inherited 
property of the wife from the absolute control 
of the husband ; out they do not succeed in 
keeping it under her own control ; the utmost 
they can do only prevents the husband from 
squandering it, at the same time debarring the 
rightful owner from its use. The property 
itself is out of the reach of both ; and as to the 
income derived from it, the form of settlement 
most favorable to the wife (that called " to her 
separate use") only precludes the husband 
from receiving it instead of her ; it must pass 



woman's legal condition. 19 

through her hands, but if he takes it from her 
by personal violence as soon as she receives it, 
."he can neither be punished, nor compelled to 
restitution. This is the amount of the protec- 
tion which, under the laws of this country, the 
most powerful nobleman can give to his own 
daughter as respects her husband. In the im- 
mense majority of cases there is no settlement, 
and the absorption of all rights, all property, 
as well as all freedom of action, is complete. 
The two are called "one person in law," for 
the purpose of inferring that whatever is hers 
is his, but the parallel inference is never drawn 
that whatever is his is hers ; the maxim is not 
applied against the man, except to make him 
responsible to third parties for her acts, as a 
master is for the acts of his slaves, or of his 
cattle. I am far from pretending that wives 
are in general no better treated than slaves ; 
but no slave is a slave to the same lengths, and 
in so full a sense of the word, as a wife is. 
Hardly any slave, except one immediately at- 
tached to the master's person, is a slave at all 
hours and all minutes ; in general he has, like 
a soldier, his fixed task, and when it is done, or 
when he is off duty, he disposes, within certain 
limits, of his time, and has a famil*/ life into 
which the master rarely intrudes. 'Uncle 



20 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

Tom ' under his first master had his own life 
in his ' cabin, 9 almost as much as any man 
whose work takes him away from home, is able 
to have in his own family. But it cannot be 
so with the wife. * * 

" What is her position in regard to the chil- 
dren in whom she and her master have a joint 
interest ? They are by law his children. He 
alone has any legal rights over them. Not 
one act can she do towards or in relation to 
them, except by delegation from him. Even 
after he is dead she is not their legal guardian,, 
unless he by will has made her so. He could 
even send them away from her, and deprive 
her of the means of seeing or corresponding 
with them, until his power was in some degree 
restricted by Sergeant Talfourd's act. 

" This is her legal state. And from this state 
she has no means of withdrawing herself. If 
she leaves her husband, she can take nothing 
with her, neither her children nor anything 
which is rightfully her own. If he chooses, 
he can compel her to return, by law, or by phys- 
ical force ; or he may content himself with 
seizing for his own use anything which she 
may earn, or which may be given to her by her 
relations. It is only legal separation by a de- 
cree of a court of justice, which entitles her to 



woman's legal condition. 21 

live apart, without being forced back into the 
custody of an exasperated jailer — or which 
empowers her to apply any earnings to her 
own use, without fear that a man whom per- 
haps she has not seen for twenty years will 
pounce upon her some day and carry all off. 
This legal separation, until lately, the courts 
of justice would only give at an expense which 
made it inaccessible to any one out of the 
higher ranks. Even now it is only given in 
cases of desertion, or of the extreme of cruelty ; 
and yet complaints are made every day that 
it is granted too easily." 

Jt is no wonder that our prejudices against the 
rights of woman, coming down to us from such 
sources, and infused into us from early child- 
liood, should be so strong. But reason and 
grace serve to overcome prejudice. 

In no other nation of the world is woman's 
legal condition as favorable as in this country, 
yet in thirty-six of our states the woman with 
a husband living is not the legal owner of her 
children. The husband has the legal control, 
and in some of the states he can will the child 
away from his wife before the child is born. 



22 ORDAIJSTIXG WOMEK. 



CHAPTER III. 

WORDS. 

" I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are 
the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of Heaven." 

Samuel Johnson. 

^^sitORDS," says Bishop Berkeley, "have 



ruined and overrun all the sciences. 

u To view the deformity of error we need only 
undress it," that is, deprive it of its verbal dis- 
guises. 

" Rowbeit that was not first which is spir- 
itual, but that which is natural ; and afterward 
that which is spiritual,'' — 1 Cor. 15:46. 

This is true, not only of things, but of words 
which represent things, mw/ta, pneuma, spirit, 
in its primary meaning signifies wind, air, the 
air we breathe. 

TSJjpv^ kerux, preacher, was a herald, who 
summoned the assembly and preserved order 
in it. 

Attogtoao^ apostolos, apostle, was one sent, a 

messenger, envoy, ambassador. 
Upiapvs 9 presbus, Tipea^vrepog^ presbuteros, elder, 



WOEDS. 23 



older, in the comparative degree, was one 
older than the most — one of mature years. 

ETrujKQTrog, episTcopos, bishop, was an overseer, 
watcher, guardian. 

AidKovoc, diakonos, deacon, a servant, waiting- 
man or woman. The word is of common gen- 
der. 

So we might go through with all the eccle- 
siastical terms of the New Testament. They 
all had, primarily, a secular meaning. But 
when it is evident that a writer gives to a word 
a special, secondary meaning, w r e must not in 
hie; writings, take that word in any place in its 
primary meaning, unless the connection abso- r 
lutely requires that we should. To do so, in 
order to support a theory, is highly improper. 
It can never be done in the interests of truth. 

To make a word mean one thing in one pas- 
sage, and then something else in essentially the 
same connection, for the purpose of making 
the writer support our views, violates the prin- 
ciples of right interpretation. Locke says: 
" In all discourses wherein one man pretends 
to instruct or convince another, he should use 
the same word constantly in the same sense." 
If this were done (which nobody can refuse 
without disingenuity), many of the controver- 



24 ORDAINING ¥OME¥. 

sies in dispute would be at an end."* 
• But where it is clear that a word is used in 
its primary signification we should so under- 
stand it. Thus the word tKKfooia, ecclesia, church, 
primarily, assembly, is found in the Xew 'Tes- 
tament 115 tinier It is properly translated 
church in all places except in Acts 19:32, 39, 
41, where it evidently has its original meaning 
of Assembly. 

" Fidelity in names," says Tertullian, "se- 
cures the safe appreciation of properties." 

Words are arbitrary signs of ideas or of 
things. And often the same word represents 
things which have no relation to each other. 
The mother who brings up her children to 
obey her is sometimes obliged to use the switch 
upon the refractory child. The railroad man, 
by turning the switch wrong, wrecked the 
train. The fashionable woman when she buys 
a switch is careful to have it match her own 
hair. 

The farmer cuts his wheat with a cradle. His 
wife rocks the baby in a cradle. 

These illustrations show that in ascertaining 
the meaning of a word we must look at the 
connection in which it stands. 

In our quotations we shall endeavor to give 

* Of Huni*a Understanding, p. 335. 



WOKDS. 25 



to words 1 lie signification intended by those 
who used ihera. 

Unless we give to words their true meaning 
we cannot arrive at the truth for which we 
search. " I shall urge upon you," says Arch- 
bishop Trench, " how well it will repay you to 
study the words which you are in the habit 
of using or of meeting, be they such as relate 
to highest spiritual things, or the common 
words of the shop and the market, and of all 
the familiar intercourse of life. It will indeed 
repay you far better than you can easily be- 
lieve." 

"The study of words," says Max Muller, 
"may be tedious to the school-boy, as break- 
ing of stones is ty the wayside laborer : but to 
the thoughtful eye of the geologist these 
stones are full of interest ; he sees miracles on 
the high road and leads chronicles in every 
ditch. Language, too, has marvels of her own, 
which she unveils to the inquiring glance of 
the patient student. There are chronicles be- 
low her surface ; there are sermons in every 
word." 



26 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ORDINATION. 

" No blood, no altar now, 

The sacrifice is o'er ;] 
No flame, no smoke ascends on high, 
The Lamb is slain no more ! 
But richer blood has flowed from nobler veins, 
To purge the soul from guilt, and cleanse the reddest stains." 

— Bonar. 

" Let all things be done decently, and in order." — St. Paul. 

IpIFFERENT de?iominations hold different 
cy views about ordination. 

1. The Friends have no sacraments and no 
ordained preachers. Their great theologian, 
Robert Barclay, says : 

" When they assemble together, to wait upon God, and to wor- 
ship and adore him ; then such as the Spirit sets apart for the 
ministry, by its divine power and influence opening their mouths, 
and giving them to exhort, reprove and instruct with virtue and 
power : these are thus ordained of God and admitted into the min- 
istry, and their brethren cannot but hear them, receive them, and 
also honor them for their works sake." 

He states as follows their position in refer- 
ence to Baptism and the Lord' s Supper : 

" As there is one Lord and one faith, so there is one baptism ; 



ORDIKATIOX. 27 



which is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the an- 
swer of a good conscience before God, by the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ. And this baptism is a pure and spiritual thing — to wit : 
the baptism of the Spirit and fire, by which we are buried with 
him, that beiug washed and purged from our sins, we may walk 
in newness of life ; of which the baptism of John was a figure, 
which was commanded tor a time, and not to continue forever."* 

He takes a similar position in respect to the 
Lord's Supper : 

" The communion of the body and blood of Christ is inward and 
spiritual, which is the participation of his flesh and blood, by which 
the inward man is daily nourished in the hearts of those in whom 
Christ dwells. Of which things the bi eaking of bread by Christ 
with his disciples was a figure, which even they who had received 
the substance used in the church for a time, for the sake of the 
weak ; even as abstaining from things strangled, and from blood, the 
washing one another's feet, and the anointing of the sick with oil ; 
all which are commanded with no less authority and solemnity 
than the former ; yet seeing they are but shadows of better things, 
they cease in such as have obtained the substance. "I* 

The main objection to this teaching is that 
it is contrary to the plain teaching of the New 
Testament. (1) All true ministers are called 
cf the Holy Ghost. But before one becomes 
a minister of the Gospel in the fullest sense, 
his divine call must be acknowledged and duly 
ratified by the church. Thus, the successor to 
Judas was so appointed, as described in Acts 
1:15-26. Thus Paul was divinely called and 
in a formal manner publicly ordained. Acts 
26:16-18 and Acts 13:2, 3. 



* Apology, p. 380. t Apology, p. 413. 



28 ORDAINING WOMEN". 

(2.) All baptism with water is not John's bap- 
tism, as Robert Barclay teaches. Christian 
baptism is baptism with water. This is made 
perfectly clear. Paul, finding certain disciples 
at Ephesus, said unto them ; 

"Have ye received the Holy Grhost since ye 
believed % And they said unto him, We have 
not so much as heard whether there be any 
Holy Ghost. 

" And he said unto them, Unto what, then, 
were ye baptized \ And they said, Unto John's 
baptism. 

' ' Then said Paul : John verily baptized with 
the baptism of repentance saying unto the 
people, that they sl-ould believe on him which 
should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. 

" When they heard this, they were baptized 
in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

' 4 And when Paul had laid his hands upon 
them, the Holy Grhosc came on them ; and they 
spake with tongues and prophesied" — Acts 
19 : 2-6. 

Here three acts, each distinct in itself, are 
specified : 

1. The baptism of John. 

2. Baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus — 
that is Christian baptism. 



ORDINATIOJNT. 29 



3, The coming u\ on them of the Holy Ghost 
in His miraculous power. 

This shows that the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost did not do away with baptism by water. 

The same is also taught with equal plain- 
ness in Acts 10:47. " Can any man forbid wa- 
ter, that these should not be baptized which 
have leceived the Holy Ghost as w r ell as we ?" 

Here were people who had received the sub- 
stance ; they needs must now receive the sign. 
They had been accepted in the army of the 
Lord ; they must now publicly come umler 
his banner. 

They belonged to Christ ; they must now, 
before their fellow men, receive the mark of 
Christ upon them. 

(3. ) Equally unscriptural is the above position 
in regard to the Lord's Sapper. In it the body 
of Christ must be partaken of in a spiritual 
manner. But there must also be the outward 
sign. 

" For I have received of the Lord that which 
also I delivered unto yon, That the Lord Jesus 
the same night in which he was betrayed took 
bread : And when he had given thanks. He 
broke it, and said, Take, eat : this is my body 
which is broken for you ; this do in remem- 
brance of me. For as oft as ye eat this 



30 ORDAINING- WOMEN". 

bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the 
Lord's death till he come.— 1 Cor. 11 : 23-26. 

(1.) It was not figurative, but actual bread 
which they ate. As oft as ye eat — not this, 
indefinitely — but this bread. 

(2.) They were to do this openly — not as- a 
sacrifice for sin— but as a remembrance of 
Christ 

(3.) It was not to be " used in the church for 
a time, for the sake of the weak," but for all 
time— as long as the world stands ; for in do- 
ing this, ye do shew the Lord's death till he 
come. 

As to " abstaining from things strangled and 
from blood, all Christians abstain from them ; 
they still wash one another's feet, in the sense 
intended by our Lord ; and some still anoint 
the sick with oil. 

Many more passages to the same effect as the 
above might be quoted ; but these are sufficient 
to show that the positiou taken by the Frien Is 
on the ministry and on the sacraments is con- 
trary to the Scriptures. 

2. The Roman Catholics. In striking con- 
trast with the above views, is the teaching of 
the Church of Rome. 

The Council of Trent, in the third canon of 
the twenty-third sessim, says : 



ORDINATION. 31 



" Whoever shall affirm that orders, or holy ordination are not 
a sacrament instituted by Christ the Lord, let him be accursed." 

Again, in the fourth canon of the same session ; 

" Whoever shall affirm that the Holy Spirit is not given by ordi- 
nation, let him be accursed. " 

As to the power conferred by ordination the 
Roman Catechism says : 

" The faithful then are to be made acquainted with the exalted 
dignity and excellence of this sacrament in its highest degree, which 
is the priesthood. Priests and bishops are, as it were, the inter- 
preters and heralds of God, commissioned in his name to teach 
mankind the law of God, and the precepts of a Christian life. They 
are the representatives of God upon earth. Impossible therefore, 
to conceive a more exalted dignity, or functions more sacred. 
Justly, therefore, are they called not only ' angels ' but gods, hold- 
ing as they do the place and power, and authority of God on earth. 
But the priesthood, at all times an elevated office, transcends in 
the new law all others in dignhVy. The power of consecrating 
and offering the body and blood of our Lord, and of remitting 
sins, with which the priesthood of the new law is invested, is such 
as cannot be comprehended by the human mind, still less is it 
equalled by, or assimilated to, anything on earth. "* 

lt In ordaining a priest, the bishop, and after him, the priests who 
are present, lay their hands on the candidate. The bishop then 
places a stole on his shoulder, and adjusts it. He next anoints his 
hands with sacred oil, reaches him a chalice containing wine, and 
a patena with bread, saying, ' Receive power to offer sacri- 
fice to God, and to celebrate mass as well for the living 
as FOR the DEAD.' By these words and ceremonies he is consti- 
tuted an interpreter and mediator between God and man, the 
principal function of the priesthood. Finally, placing his hands 
on the head of the person to be ordained, the bishop says, ' Re- 
ceive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins ye shall forgive, 
they are forgiven them ; and whose sin£ ye shall retain 
they are retained. Thus investing him with that divine power 

p. 283. 



32 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



of forgiving and retaining sins, which was conferred by our Lord 
on his disciples. These are the principal and peculiar functions of 
the priesthood.* 

These are wonderful pretensions ! The apos- 
tles themselves claimed no such powers. They 
never pretended to transform bread and wine 
into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, There is no record of their claiming 
to forgive sin, in the place of God, or of pro- 
nouncing absolution from sin by his authority. 
They were to forgive those who sinner! against 
them, but ail Christians were to do the same. 
They laid down authoritatively the conditions 
on which God forgives sin. 

Says Dr. Lightfoot : "The Holy Spirit di- 
recting them, they were to determine concern- 
ing the legal doctrine and practice, being com- 
pletely instructed and enabled in both by the 
Holy Spirit descending upon them. 

"As to the persons, they were endowed with, 
a peculiar gift, so that, the same Spirit direct- 
ing them, if they would retain and punish the 
sins of any, a power was delivered into their 
hands of delivering to Satan, of punishing 
with diseases, plagues, yea, death itself, which 
Peter did to Ananias and Sapphira ; Paul to 
Ely mas, Hymeneus and Philetus" 

But the power which the twelve possessed 

* Catechism, p. 295. 



OKDINATIOK. 33 



they never assumed to bestow upon others. 
The record does not show that Christ ever gave 
them any such power. 

Simon Magus was the only one spoken of in 
the New Testament as ascribing to them such 
power. And he was most severely rebuked. — 
Acts 8 : 18-24. 

As to the Romish priests transforming the 
bread and wine into the actual body and blood, 
of the Lord Jesus, it is a blasphemous assump- 
tion. The apostles did not pretend to do any 
such thing. For as often as ye eat this bread. 
— 1 Cor. 11-26. 

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, 
and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, 
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the 
Lord. — 27th verse. 

They eat unworthily who eat it to satisfy 
hunger and not to commemorate the sacrificial 
death of Christ. They do not discern the 
Lord's body. 

But whether eaten worthily or unworthily, 
it is the bread that is eaten. 

On the unscriptural view that the Lord's 
Supper is of the nature of a sacrifice for sin is 
based the claim that Gospel ministers consti- 
tute a priesthood. This is ' ah error of the 



34 ORDAINING- WOMEN. 

greatest magnitude and fraught with, the most 
direful consequences. 

It is remarkable that, though the wov&priest 
is found in the New Testament one hundred 
and fifty -one times, it is never once applied to 
a Christian minister. Neither John, nor Peter, 
nor Paul, nor James is ever called a priest. 

" What is the reason ?" 

A priest is one who offers sacrifices for the 
sins of others. " For every high priest taken 
from among men is ordained for men in things 
pertaining to (iod, that he may offer both 
gifts and sacrifices for sins." — Heb. 5:1. See 
also Chap. 8:3. 

But Christ has offered himself a sacrifice for 
our sins, once for all. u And every priest 
standeth daily ministering and offering often- 
times the same sacrifices, which can never take 
away sins ; but this man after he had offered 
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the 
right hand of God.— Heb. 10:12. Note well ! 

that THE SACRIFICE FOR SINS IS FOREVER. It 

is never to be repeated. 

"For such an high priest became us, who 
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin- 
ners, and made higher than the heavens ; who 
needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer 
up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for 



ORDHSTATIO^. 35 



the people' s ; for this he did once, when he 
offered up himself.- -Heb. 7:26, 27. 

There is then a valid reason why the Chris- 
tian religion has no priests. It has no sacri- 
fices/or sins to offer. The sacrifice for sin 
is complete. The Redeemer has appeared 
among men. Man is redeemed. For minis- 
ters to assume to be priests, in the priestly 
sense, is an open insult to Christ. It is a 
Heaven- daring usurpation. 

The Christian priesthood embraces all of 
God's people. It was to all the saints that St. 
Peter wrote : " Ye, also, as lively stones, are 
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood 
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
God by Jesus Christ."— 1 Pec. 2:5. 

Also in the 9 th verse : " But ye are a chosen 
generation, a royal priesthood." There is no 
dispute that all the saints are referred to in 
both these passages. 

The nature of these sacrifices is clearly speci- 
fied. They are — 

1. Our bodies. "I beseech you, therefore, 
brethren, by the mercies of God that ye pra- 
sent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac- 
ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 
service." — Rom. 12:1. 

No priest is to offer this for another. Each 



36 ORDAHSTING WOMEN. 

believer in Christ is to offer it for himself, 

2. Good Works. "But to do good and to 
communicate, forget not ; for with such sacri- 
fices God is well pleased." — Heb. 13:16. See 
also Eph. 5:2. 

This direction also is to all of God' s people. 

3. Praise. ' ' By him, therefore, let us offer 
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that 
is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his 
name. — Heb. 13:15. 

This too i3 a sacrifice that all the saints are to 
offer. It is not to be done by priest or other 
proxy. No choir, however skilful, or how 
highly paid, can relieve us of this duty of 
offering praise to God. 

These are all the sacrifices that Christians 
are directed, in the New Testament, to offer. 
And each and all of these 1 hey are to offer for 
themselves. Not one word is said about offering 
"the sacrifice of the Mass" as an atonement 
for our sins. All this is adding to the word of 
the Lord. 

If Christian Ministers were called upon to 
slaughter cattle and sheep as sacrifices for sin, 
then it would be improper for women to be 
ministers. This is the reason why, in the Old 
Testament, no woman is called a priest. Some 
of them were prophets to instruct and reform 



ORDI^ATIO^. 37 



the people, but no woman was a priest to offer 
sacrifices for sins. 

In the primitive Christian Church, when the 
Ministers became proud and aspiring, and as- 
sumed priestly prerogatives, they assigned to 
woman a lower place in the Christian ministry ; 
and finally, as they apostatized more fully, 
they dropped her from the ministry altogether. 

Between these two extremes, of the Friends, 
who make absolutely nothing of ordination, 
and of the Romanists, who make an apotheosis, 
a deification of it, lies the truth. 

By Protestants generally, ordination is 
looked upon as a solemn recognition by the 
church, of the authority to preach, of those 
ivhom God has called to this office, and who 
have made full proof of their ministry. 

John Wesley, referring to ecclesiastics of 
the Church of England, to which he belonged, 
said that for forty years he had been in doubt 
over the question, " What obedience is due to 
Heathenish priests and mitred infidels ?" 

So it is quite evident that he did not regard 
ordination as bestowing a Christian, much less 
an angelic or godlike character. 

Ordination is necessary to prevent improper 
persons from thrusting themselves into the 
ministry, and thus bringing the Gospel into 



38 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



contempt. Daniel Webster said; "Forms 
are as necessary as hoops on a barrel ; they 
keep the whole from falling to pieces. 55 

" The essential elements of the act of ordi- 
nation," says Rev. H. J. Van Dyke, sr., D. D., 
" are prayer, and the laying on of hands, with 
t?ie avowed intention of setting apart the can- 
didate to the work of the ministry, as one who, 
after due examination, is believed to be called 
of God to that office."* 

For ordination there is the plain authority 
of the New Testament. 

" The Ordination of the Seven Deacons f This 
marked event in the history of the Church oc- 
curred in immediate sequence of the outpour- 
ing of the Holy Grhost at the Pentecost, and 
from the space allotted to it in the sacred rec- 
ord (Acts 6:2-6), as well as from the fact that 
all the apostles were present, it may now be 
considered, as it doubtless was during the 
whole apostolic period, a model ordination for 
the subsequent Church. Its characteristic fea- 
tures were : (1.) A demand for men of honest 
report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom ; 
(2.) An election or choice by the church on 
that basis: (3.) Prayer by the apostles; (4.) 

* Presbyterian Review for 1886, June No. 

f MeClintock & Strongs Cyclypedia, Art. Ordination 



ORDINATION. 39 



The laying on of hands, presumably, by sev- 
eral of the apostles, as representative of the 
whole body. In this act the apostles illus- 
trated their ideas of the proper functions of 
the church in reference to its future ministers, 
and established a precedent^ of perpetual au- 
thority. It was a precedent, moreover, in ob- 
vious harmony with the precept of our Lord, 
given in connection with his appointment of 
the seventy (Luke 10:2), "Pray ye, therefore, 
the Lord of the harvest, that he would send 
forth laborers into his harvest. y) The apostles 
evidently regarded this as the standing com- 
mission and perpetual duty of the church, in 
reference to the promotion of Christ's King- 
dom in the earth. In it they saw that the 
Lord claimed the work of evangelizing the 
world as his own, and also the prerogative of 
calling and sending forth laborers, while at the 
same time, he charged the church with the re- 
sponsibility of prayer and co-operation. This, 
too, was in harmony with the Saviour' s prom- 
ised gift of the Holy Ghost as the guide of the 
church when he should no longer be present 
as its visible head. The Spirit's influence was 
specially promised in answer to prayer, and it 
was only a praying church endowed with the 
Holy Ghost that could become the light of the 



4(3 ORDAXNIJSTG WOMEN. 

world, and the agency of its salvation. So long 
as tlie church: illustrated these characteristics, 
it gloriously fulfilled its mission, It grew rap- 
idly by the addition of regenerated believers, 
many of whom, in proportion to the demands 
of its widening work, were called of God, and 
moved of the Holy Ghost io preach to others 
the same Gospel that had become to them the 
power of God unto salvation. The function 
of the church, therefore, as to ordination was, 
not to create or bestow the gift of the minis- 
try, but simply to recognize and authenticate 
it when bestowed by the Head of the Church." 
The ordination of elders. In the Apostolic 
Church, Bishops and Mders were the same. 
" And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and 
called the elders of the church." When they 
were come together he said to them ; " Take 
heed, thereTore, unto yourselves, and to all 
the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath 
made you overseers, to feed the church of 
God, which he hath purchased with his own 
blood."— Acts 20:17, 28. The word here trans- 
lated overseer is, in the original, episcopos, 
bishop. From this we learn — 1. That those 
having the oversight of the Church were 
called elders or bishops. These two words 
were used interchangeably. 2. That preaching 



ORDINATION. 41 



was the chief business of these elders or bish- 
ops. They were made bishops by the Holy 
Ghost that they might feed the church of God. 

So, in the various lists that are given us m 
the New Testament, of the officers of the 
church, elders and bishops are never both 
found in the same list. These elders were or- 
dained. " And when they had ordained them 
elders in every church, and had prayed with 
fasting, they commenced them to the Lord, on 
whom they believed."— Acts 14:23. 

M For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou 
shouldest set in order the things that are want- 
ing, and ordain elders in every city as T had 
appointed thee. If any be blameless, the hus- 
band of one wife, having faithful children not 
accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must 
be blameless — Titus 1:5-7. 

It is evident that those whom he calls elders 
in the fifth verse he calls bishops in the sev- 
enth. 

We see also that the Apostolic churches 
were not independent, but the same men had 
official oversight of many churches. 

Ordaining Apostles. ' ' Now there were in the 
church that was at Antiocli certain prophets 
and teachers ; as Barnabas and Simeon that 
was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and 



42 OKDAIJNTXG WOMEN. 

Manaen, which had been brought up with 
Herod the tetrarch and Saul. 

u And as they ministered to the Lord and 
fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Bar- 
nabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have 
called them. 

"And when they had fasted and prayed, 
and laid their hands on them they sent them 
away."— Acts 13:1-3. 

"The events above narrated," say McClin- 
tock and Strong, "occurred some two years 
after the commission of Saul of Tarsus, follow- 
ing which f straightway he preached Christ in 
the synagogues.' — Acts 9,20. Becoming asso- 
ciated with Barnabas, he also ' spake boldly 
in the name of the Lord Jesus ' at Jerusalem. 
Both these men seem to have labored as evan- 
gelists whenever they had opportunity, and 
their ministry, having been given of God, was 
honored by his blessing. They were now called 
to higher responsibilities. 'They were to go 
forth under the sanction of the church, and 
not only to proclaim the truth, but also to bap- 
tize converts, to organize Christian congrega- 
tions, and to ordain Christian ministers. It 
was therefore proper that, on this occasion, 
they should be regularly invested with the 
ecclesiastical commission. In the circum- 



ORDINATION. 43 



stantial record of this proceeding, in the Acts 
of the Apostles, we have a proof of the wis- 
dom of the Author of Revelation. He fore- 
saw that the rite of the laying on of hands 
would be sadly abused ; that it would be rep- 
resented as possessing something like a magic 
potency ; and that it would at length be con- 
verted by a small class of ministers, into an 
ecclesiastical monopoly. He has therefore sup- 
plied us with an antidote against delusion by 
permitting us, in this simple narrative, to scan 
its exact import. And what was the virtue of 
the ordination here described ? Did it furnish 
Paul and Barnabas with a title to the ministry \ 
Not at all. God himself had already called 
them to the work, and they could receive no 
higher authorization. Did it necessarily add 
anything to the eloquence, or the prudence, or 
the knowledge, or the piety of the missionaries \ 
No results of the kind could be produced by 
any such ceremony. What, then, was its mean- 
ing ? The evangelist himself furnishes an an- 
swer. The Holy Ghost required that Barnabas 
and Saul should be separated to the work to 
which the Lord had called them, and the lay- 
ing on of hands was the mode or form in which 
they were set apart or designated to the office. 
This rite to an Israelite, suggested grave and 



44 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



hallowed associations. When a Jewish father 
invoked a benediction on any of his family, he 
laid his hand upon the head of the child ; when 
a Jewish priest devoted ari animal in sacrifice, 
he laid his hand upon the head of the victim ; 
and when a Jewish rabbi invested another with 
office, he laid his hand upon the head of the 
new functionary. The ordination of these 
brethren possessed all this significance. By 
the laying on of hands the ministers of Antioch 
implored a blessing upon Barnabas and Saul, 
and announced their separation or dedication 
to the work of the Grospel and intimated their 
investiture with ecclesiastical authority.' "* 
% There is nothing, then, in the nature of ordi- 
nation which indicates that no woman should 
ever be ordained. If she is called of God to 
his work, and this is evident to the church, 
then may the church separate her to this work 
by ordination. 

Ordination, while it does not, in the rite 
itself, convey any supernatural, or magical 
power, yet it should be the occasion of great 
and permanent blessing to the person ordained. 
But this depends, not upon the form, but upon 
the parties concerned. If those ordaining are 
proud, and worldly, and carnal, and formal, 



Killen, Ancient Church, p. 71,seq. 



ORDINATION. 45 



and the candidate is unconverted, ordination, 
in all probability, will only make him njore 
proud, exacting and aspiring. But if those 
who ordain, are men full of faith and of the 
Holy Ghost, and the one ordained is spiritual, 
humble and fully consecrated to God, he may 
receive at his ordination such a baptism of the 
Spirit as shall give him new power all the rest 
of his days. 

"God knows," says Whitfield, "how deep 
a concern entering into the ministry and preach- 
ing was to me. I have prayed a thousand 
ames till the sweat has dropped from my face 
like rain, that God, of his infinite mercy, would 
Jiot let me enter into the church, till he called 
me to and thrust me forth in his work. I said, 
Lord I cannot go. I shall be puffed up with 
pride, and fall into the condemnation of the 
devil. Lord, do not let me go yet. I pleaded 
to be at Oxford two or three years more. I 
intended to make one hundred and fifty ser- 
mons, and thought that I would set up with a 
good stock in trade. I remember praying, 
wrestling and striving with God. I said, I am 
undone, I am unfit to preach in thy great 
name. Send me not, Lord — send me not yet. 
I wrote to all my friends in town and country 
to pray against the bishop's solicitation, but 



46 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

they insisted I should go into orders before I 
was twenty-two. After all their solicitations 
these words came into my mind: 'Nothing 
shall pluck you out of my hands' ; they came 
warm to my heart. Then, and not till then, 
I said, Lord I will go ; send me when thou 
wilt." He was ordained; and he said: 
,4 When the bishop laid his hands upon my 
head, my heart was melted down, and I offered 
up my whole spirii and soul and body." 

Complaint was made to the bishop that, by 
his tirst sermon he drove fifteen mad. The good 
man replied that he hoped their madness would 
last. 



OBJECTIONS — OLD TESTAMENT. 47 



CHAPTER V. 

OBJECTIONS — OLD TESTAMENT. 

* ( God made all his creatures free ; 
Life itself is liberty ; 
God ordained no other bands 
Than united hearts and hands.'' 

— James Montgomery. 

HE objections to the ordination of women 
may be classed under two heads — Scrip- 
iural and natural. 

It is urged that the Bible represents the 
woman as inferior to the man, and subject to 
him ; therefore she should not be permitted to 
occupy a position equal to his, either in church 
or in state. As proof of this, the fact that she 
was created last is presented. 

But, if this proves anything, it proves her 
superiority. For the work of creation pro- 
ceeded in regular gradation from the lower to 
the higher. 

Matter is not eternal. Away back in the 
beginning^ millions of millions of years before 
our earth was fitted up for the abode of man, 
God created the heaven and the earth. 



48 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



On the first of our six days of creation, light 
appeared. On the second, the atmosphere was 
formed. On the third day, the waters of the 
earth were gathered together, the dry land ap- 
peare 1, and our vegetable world was brought 
into existence. 

On the fourth day, light was concentrated 
around the sun, and it was made a luminous 
body, and the celestial luminaries were so ar- 
ranged as to afford an accurate measurement 
of time, and to give distinction to the seasons. 

On the fifth day, fish, fowls and reptiles were 
created. 

On the sixth day, land animals were created 
— man last — the male first — the woman last of 
all. 

Mathevv Henry, in his comment on this verse, 
says: "That Adam was first formed, then 
Eve (1 Tim. 2-13), and she was made of the 
man and for the man (1 Cor. 11:8, 9), all which 
is urged there as reasons for the humility, 
modesty, silence and submissiveness of that 
sex in general, and particularly the subjection 
and reverence which wives owe to their own 
husbands. Yet man being made last of the 
creatures, as the best and most excellent of 
all, Eve% being made after Adam, and out of 
him, puts an honor upon that sex, as the glory 



OBJECTIONS— OLD TESTAMENT. 49 

of the man. — 1 Cor. 11:7. If man is the head, 
she is the crown ; a crown to her husband, the 
crown of the visible creation. The man was 
dust refined, but the woman was dust double 
refined, one remove further from the earth. 5> 

Woman was created, not as the servant of 
man, but as his companion^ his equal. " And 
the Lord God said: It is not good that the 
man should be alone ; I will make him an help 
meet for him." — Gen. ^:18. 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his comment on this 
verse, says: " 1 will make him a help meet 
for him ; ezer kenegedo, a help, a counterpart 
of himself, one formed from him, and a per- 
fect resemblance of his person. If the word 
be rendered scrupulously literally, it signifies 
one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or 
before him. And this implks that the woman 
was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, 
possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, 
but being in all things like and equal to him- 
self." 

The dominion which God gave to man at the 
creation was a joint dominion. It was given 
to the woman equally as to the man. 

u And God Said : Let us make man in our 
image, after our likeness ; and let them have 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 



50 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over 
all the earth, and over every creeping thing 
that creepeth upon the earth. 

"So God created man in his own image, in 
the image of God created he him ; male and 
female created he them." — Gen. 1: 26, 27. 

LetuwEW Jiave dominion. 

It is, then, evident that God created woman 
a female man — nothing more — nothing less. 
She had all the rights and prerogatives of the 
man. The dominion given to him was given 
equally to her. 

Nothing was said of the subjection of woman 
befoie the fall. After that sad event, it was 
said to the woman, as a part of her punish- 
ment : " Thy desire shall be to thy husband 
and he shall rule over thee."— Gen. 3:16. 

On this verse Dr. Ac^am Clarke says, " And 
he shall rule over thee, though at their crea- 
tion both were formei with equal rights, and 
the woman had probably as much right to rule 
as the man ; but subjection to the will of her 
husband is one part of her curse ; and so very 
capricious is this will often, that a sorer pun- 
ishment no human being can well have, to be 
at all in a state of liberty, and under the pro- 
tection of wise and equal laws." 

But it was promised that "The seed of the 



OBJECTIONS — OLD TESTAMENT. 51 

woman should bruise the serpent's head." — 
<ien. 3:15. Christ was the seed of the woman. 
Woman gave to the world man's Redeemer. 
If she was first in the fall, she was first in the 
restoration. Christ hath redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. — Gal. 
3:13. The us includes woman. 

The Pharisees asked Christ : " Is it lawful 
ior a man to put away his wife for every 
cause?" 

In his answer he did not appeal to existing 
laws, or long established customs. He based 
his answer on the state of things that existed before 
■the fall "Have ye not read, that he which 
made them at the beginning, made them male 
and female ?"— Mat. 19:4. Why this appeal 
to the beginning ? It was to re-enact the 
XAw enacted then. For this cause shall a man 
leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife ; 
and they twain shall be one flesh. Thus Christ re- 
stored the primitive Ivw. He said nothing about 
the subjection of woman — not one word. 

"But," it is objected, "domestic society re- 
quires the wife to be subject to the husband." 

This is a great mistake. If it did, Christ 
would doubtless have given directions accord- 
ingly. 

But it does not. The greatest domestic hap- 



52 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

piness always exists where husband and wife 
live together on terms of equality. Two men, 
having individual interests, united only by busi- 
ness ties, daily associate as partners for years, 
without either of them being in subjection to 
the other. They consider each other as equals ;. 
and treat each other as equals. Then, cannot 
a man and woman, united by conjugal love, 
the strongest tie that can unite two human be- 
ings, having the same interests, live together 
in the same manner? 

Christ came to repair the ruin wrought by 
the fall. In Him, and in Him only, is Para- 
dise restored. 

The Grospel belongs to woman as much as to 
man. 

But, it is again objected that under the 
Aaronic priesthood men only were priests. 

This is true ; but the priests were not the only 
or the chief religious teachers of the Jews. 
The prophets ranked in this respect above the 
priests. 

But women prophesied. Miriam, was a 
prophetess — Ex. 15:20. And Grod in speak- 
ing of the deliverance of his people from 
Egypt, classes her with Moses and Aaron. 
u And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron and 
Miriam." — Micah 6:4. She was, then, one of 



OBJECTIONS — OLD TESTAMENT. 53 

the chosen leaders of his people sent by God. 
Does not this answer the question, Why did 
not God appoint a woman to be a leader, if it 
is ever right for a woman to lead ? With 
Moses and Aaron God sent Miriam " before" 
His people — that is to lead them. 

Deborah was a prophetess and a judge. She 
performed all the duties that men did who 
judged Israel, even, to leading their armies to 
successful battle — Judges 4-4. Huldah was a 
prophetess(2 Ki. 22:14); and so was Noadiah. 
Nah. 6:14. 

Then we conclude that there is nothing in 
the creation of woman or in her condition un- 
der the law which proves that no woman should 
be ordained as a minister of the Gospel. 



54 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OBJECTIONS — NEW TESTAMENT. 

" All mystery is defect, and cloudy words 
Are feebleness, not strength ; are loss, not gain ; 

Men win no victories with spectre swords ; 
The phantom barque plows the broad sea in vain. " 

— Bonar. 

jf N all that we have heard and read against the 
right of woman to be, in the fullest sense, 
a minister of the Gospel, we have never heard 
or read a single quotation from the words of 
Jesus against this right. This is significant. 
Christ applied the same rules of moral conduct 
to the woman as to the man. His treatment 
of the woman taken in adultery has scarcely a 
parallel. No woman ever came to him to be 
repulsed. 

But, it is said, if women are to preach, why 
did he not choose a woman among the twelve ? 

We ask, in reply, if gentiles are to preach, 
why did he not choose a gentile among the 
twelve ? Why were the twelve Jews, every one 
of them? The example is as binding in the 
one case as the other. 



OBJECTIONS — NEW TESTAMENT. 55 

But, it is answered, Paul settles the ques- 
tion. ' ' There is neither Jew nor Greek, there 
is neither bond nor free, there is neither male 
nor female ; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." 
-Gal. 3:28. It is contrary to all sound prin- 
ciples of interpretation to say that this passage 
accords to a Greek the same rights in the Gos- 
pel that it does to a Jew, in one sense, and to a 
woman the same rights that it does to a man 
in another, and much more restricted sense. 

If this gives to men of all nations the right 
to become ministers cf the Gospel, it gives to 
women precisely the same right. 

Make this the key text npon this subject, 
and give to other passages such a construction 
as will make them agree with it, and all is har- 
mony. The apparent conflict is at an end. 
The fetters are taken off from woman, and she 
is left free to serve Christ in any position she 
may be qualified and called to fill. Why should 
not this be done % 

It is objected, in the strong, clear language of 
an able minister: "'In what are male and 
female one in Christ Jesus ? Certainly not in 
every respect. There is nothing in the context 
by which you can come to the conclusion that 
Paul is here laying down an abstract principle, 
applicable outside the limits of the subject tin- 



ORDAINING WOMEN. 



der discussion, Jfaw what is that subject % Is 
h not the- one that runs through the entire 
epistle and especially through the chapter oi' 
which the verse in question forms a part ? viz : 
That all men, Jews and Gentiles alike, are 
saved by faith, and not by the works of the 
law, according to the covenant of God made 
with Abraham. From first to last there is no 
other subject introduced or considered in this 
chapter, And therefore fairness of interpre- 
tation requires us to understand the teaching 
of the 28th verse to be simply this : In the 
matter of salvation all are one. The male is 
saved by faith. The female is saved by faith. 
The Jew is saved by faith and also the Greek. 
Likewise the bondman and the freeman. In 
this respect, all are one, being baptized into 
Jesus Christ, they become equally children of 
God, saved by faith alone. To carry this idea 
of oneness further Is to bring inio the text 
what is not ihere, and add to the inspired 
word.' 5 * 

To this objection we reply : 

1. If this verse referred only to salvation by 
faith, the female would not be specified It 
would be a superfluity. As we have seen, 
woman 1 1 a female man.f In the many offers 

* .Rev.-. W, Gould, t See page 50. 



OBJECTIONS — NEW TESTAMENT. 57 

of salvation made in the New Testament, 
woman is not specially mentioned Not once. 
"He that belie veth and is baptized shall be 
saved,'' includes woman as well as man. Every 
one so understood it. There was no dispute 
about it. So, in the first prayer meeting, it 
appears the women went ahead. "These all 
continued, with one accord, i?i prayer and sup- 
plication with the women. --Acts 1:14. Women 
believed in Christ. "And believers were the 
more added to the Lord multitudes, both olmen 
and women." — Acts 5:14. They were so active 
in his cause as to provoke persecution. ' ' Saul, 
haling men and women committed them to 
prison" — Acts 8:3. Though, in the Jewish 
church, the males only received the sign of the 
covenant, yet in the Christian church, women 
were, from the first, baptized. " They were 
baptized, both men and women" — Acts 8:12. 
Yet there is no specific command to baptize 
women, nor any separate offer of salvation to 
them. So, if Gal. 3:28 referred to salvation 
alone, the female w r ould not have been men- 
tioned in it. The " Creek" and the "bond" 
might have been mentioned with propriety. 
For it took a miracle to convince Peter that a 
Greek, or Gentile; could be saved by Christ. 
But it would have stopped wilh them. All 



58 OKDAHSTING WOMEN. 

regarded women as included in the general 
provisions of the Gospel for the salvation of 
mankind. 

So we must give this verse its full, natural, 
comprehensive, broad meaning. We must un- 
derstand it to teach, as it actually does, the 
perfect equality of all, under the Gospel, in 
rights and privileges, without respect to na- 
tionality ', or condition, or sex. 

2. There are two correct modes of reasoning : 

(1.) From particulars to deduce a general 
truth. 

(2.) From a general, admitted truth, or ax- 
iom, make an application to particulars. 

The apostle here adopts the first method. 
He shows that Abraham was justified by faith ; 
that the Mosaic law was temporary, to last only 
till Christ came ; that all who have faith in 
Christ become the children of God. 

Then he makes two general statements — 

1. That in Christ Jesus all peculiar privileges 
based on nationality, or condition, or sex are 
abolished. In the Gospel one nation has the 
same rights and privileges as another, thebond 
the same as the free, the female the same as 
the male. 

2. That all, without distinction, who believe 



OBJECTIONS — NEW TESTAMENT. 59 

in Christ, are the children of Abraham and 
heirs according to the promise. 

With this agrees Dr. Adam Clarke in his 
comment on this verse. " Neither male nor 
female. With great reason the apostle intro- 
duces this. Between the privileges of men and 
women there was a great disparity among the 
Jews. A man might shave his head, and rend 
his clothes in the time of mourning ; a woman 
was not permitted to do so. A man might im- 
pose the vow of nasirate upon his son ; a wo- 
man could not do this on her daughter. A 
man might be shorn on account of the nasirate 
of his father ; a woman could not. A man might 
betroth his daughter ; a woman had no such 
power. A man might sell his daughter ; a 
woman could not. In many cases they were 
treated more like children than adults ; and to 
this day are not permitted to assemble with 
the men in the synagogues, but are put up in 
galleries, where they can scarcely see, nor can 
they be seen. Under the blessed spirit of 
Christianity they have equal rights, equal priv- 
ileges, and equal blessings, and, let me add, 
they are equally useful" 

This is all we contend for. We are in full 
agreement with these words of the great com- 
mentator. 



60 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

Again, it is urged that Paul in express, words 
forbids women to become ministers of the Gos- 
pel. In proof of this, two passages are quoted : 

"Let your women keep silence in the 
churches ; for it is not permitted unto them to 
speak : but they are commanded to be under 
obedience, as also saith the law. And if they 
will learn anything let them ask their husbands 
at home ; for it is a shame for women to speak 
in the church."— 1 Cor. 14:34, 35. 

"Let the woman learn in silence with all 
subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, 
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be 
in silence."— 1 Tim. 2:11, 12. 

1. These are the only passages of the kind 
in the Bible. There are no others that seem to 
forbid woman to preach, or to perform all the 
other duties of a minister of the Gospel. 

2. No denomination applies these passages 
literally. If they did, they would not allow : 

(1.) Women to sing in church. For to sing 
is not to lieep silence. 

(2.) Nor to pray ; for the same reason. 

(3.) Nor to testify ; for to testify is to speak. 

(4.) Nor to teach in the Sabbath school or 
elsewhere ; for the statement is general — 1 suf- 
fer not a woman to teach. 

(5.) Nor to write religious books, or for 



OBJECTIONS — NEW TESTAMENT. 61 

religious periodicals ; for this is to teach. 

Notice. Preaching is not specified. It is 
forbidden only as it is one method of breaking 
the silence, one mode of teaching. So far, 
then, all are agreed that these words of Paul 
are not to be taken literally. The most rigid 
Presbyterians allow women to sing in the 
church, and to teach in the Sabbath school. 

Madame Gru}^ on, and other holy women among 
the Roman Catholics, have written religious 
books, and so have taught. 

3. It is evident that Paul did not intend to 
prohibit women from taking any part in re- 
ligious services, or even from preaching. For, 
in this same epistle, he gives directions about 
their dress when in public congregations they 
take a part in the exercises, — pray and proph- 
esy — that is, preach. 

"But every woman that prayeth or proph- 
esieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her 
head ; for that is even all one as if she were 
shaven." — 1 Cor. 11:5. 

This certainly assumes that she was to pray 
and prophesy in public. 

Then Paul did not require all women to keep 
silence in the church, in an absolute sense. He 
did permit some women to teach, for unless 
they taught how could they edify their hear- 



62 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

ers ? He would have them so dress as not to 
excite the suspicion that they were not modest 
women. 

Priscilla was a woman. Apollos was an elo- 
quent preacher of the Gospel. But Aquila 
and Priscilla expounded unto Apollos the way 
of God more perfectly. 

Paul, in his epistles, sent his salutations to 
several women who labored in the Lord. "And 
I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those 
women which labored with me in the Gospel, 
with Clement, also, and with other my fellow 
laborers, whose names are in the book of life." 
— Phil. 4:3. The word here translated labored 
with, is aw'n&'krjaav, sunethlesan, from sun, to- 
gether, and athleo, to strive, the word from 
which is derived our word athletic. It means 
to strive along with one, on his side, to help 
vigorously. 

Clement was a celebrated minister, the same, 
it is supposed, who was afterwards bishop of 
Rome. These women gave Paul the same as-* 
sistance that Clement did. 

"Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in 
Christ Jesus ; who have fcr my life laid down 
their own necks ; unto whom not only I give 
thanks, but also all the churches of the Gen- 
tiles." 



OBJECTIONS — NEW TESTAMENT. 63 

Helpers, ow£ P i&v^ sunergous, fellow workers. 
It seems that they not only labored with the 
apostle, but incurred such perils for his sake 
as secured for them the thanks of all the Gen- 
tile churches. 

With others, he salutes Mary, Junia and 
Jnlia. 

" Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor 
in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which 
labored much in the Lord." — Rom. 16:12. 

In his comments on this verse, Dr. Clarke 
says: "We learn from this, that Christian 
women, as well as men, labored in the ministry 
of the word 

"Many have spent much useless labor in 
endeavoring to prove that these women did not 
preach. That there were some prophetesses as 
well as prophets in the Christian church, we 
learn ; and that a woman might pray or proph- 
esy, provided she had her head covered, we 
know ; and that whoever prophesied spoke 
unto others to edification, exhortation, and 
comfort, St. Paul declares* — 1 Cor. 14:3. And 
that no preacher can do more, every person 
must acknowledge ; because to edify, exhort 
and comfort are the prime ends of the Gospel 
ministry. If women thus prophesied, then 
womenpreac7ied. There is, however, much more 



64 ORDArariro WOMEN. 

than this implied in the Christian ministry, of 
which men only, and men called of God, are 
capable." • 

In this last sentence we see the power of 
prejudice even over so great and good a man 
as Dr. Clarke. What this "much more" is, 
of which 'men only are capable," he fails to 
tell us, and we are at a loss to imagine. 

St. Paul himself then makes it clear that tha 
two verses quoted above, in which he appears 
to forbid, in general terms, women to speak in 
meeting, or to teach, either in meeting or out, 
are not to be construed literally. 

4. Peter says that in all of Paul's epistles 
are some things hard to be under stood. — 2 Pet. 
3:15. Why not class among these things hard 
to ~be understood, what he says about women 
keeping silence in the churches, and conform 
our practice to what we find, in other passages, 
that women actually did in the apostolic church ? 
We can see nothing wrong in such a course. 
Some churches that do not allow women to 
pray or testify in their public meetings, and 
others that permit her to go thus far, but do 
not allow her equal rights in the church with 
a man, pay no attention whatever to the pro- 
hibition of women to adorn themselves in gold y 
or pearls, or costly array." — 1 Tim. 2:9. 



OBJECTIONS — NEW TESTAMENT. 65 

» -"• 

Yet the whole tenor of Scripture is in har- 
mony with the latter restriction ! 

5. But we think what he says about women 
keeping silence in the church may be satisfac- 
torily explained. 

The connection in 1 Cor. 14:34 shows that the 
Apostle is speaking of disorder and confusion, 
and not of the right of women to preach. " For 
God is not the author of confusion.'' — v. 33. 

The man is commanded to he silent under 
certain circumstances. But if there he no in- 
terpreter let him keep silence in the church. 
—v. 28. 

Is the woman to be in subjection to proper 
authority ? So is the man. And the spirits of 
the prophets are subject to the prophets. — v. 32. 

Chrysostom, who lived in the fourth century, 
in his comment on 1 Cor. 14:34 throws light 
upon this subject. 

"Having abated the disturbance both from 
the tongues, and from the prophesyings ; and 
having made a law to prevent confusion, that 
they who prophesy should be silent when an- 
other begins ; he next in course proceeds to 
the disorder which arose from the women, root- 
ing out their unseasonable boldness of speech \ 
and that very opportunely. For if to them 
that have the gifts it is not permitted to speak 



66 oRDAHsriisra womett. 

inconsiderate!}', nor when tliey will, and this 
though they be moved by the Spirit; much 
less to thoso women who prate idly and to no 
purpose. Therefore he represses their babbling 
and that with much authority, and taking the 
law along with him, thus he sews up their 
mouths ; not simply exhorting here, or giving 
counsel, but he even laying his commands 
on them vehemently, by the recitation of an 
ancient law on that subject. For having 
said, "Let your women keep silence in the 
churches; and, it is not permitted unto them 
to speak but to be under obedience, he added, 
as also saith the law. And where does the law 
say this? (Thy desire shall be to thy husband 
and he shall rule over thee.") 

Again, speaking of the behavior of women 
in the church, Chrysostom says: "There is 
apt to be great noise among them — much clam- 
or, and talking, and nowhere so mach as in 
this place. They may all be seen here talking 
more than in the market, or at the bath. For, 
as if they came hither for recreation, they are 
all engaged in conversing upon unprofitable 
subjects. Thus all is confusion." 

The city of Corinth was the Paris of its day. 
The people were gay, giddy, devoted to pleas- 
ure. The Christian church in that city was 



OBJECTIONS — 1STEW TESTAMENT. 67 

composed of such of this people as had accept- 
ed Christ. The women admitted to the liberty 
of the Gospel, abused this liberty as the men 
also did. The larger part of this 14th chapter 
of 1 Corinthians is devoted to regulations for 
the men. When he speaks of women, it is, 
not in general terms, but your women, — the 
women that yield to the disorderly spirit 
that prevails among you. The prohibition (in 
the 34th verse) was local and temporary. 

Timothy was laboring among churches com- 
posed chiefly of converts from heathenism. So 
when Paul says in his epistle to Timothy : "I 
suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp au- 
thority over the man, but 1o be in silence," 
the words are evidently used in the same mean- 
ing as the similar words in Corinthians : When 
a woman is properly authorized to teach she 
does not usurp authority. The authority duly 
given her she has a right to exercise in a proper 
manner and within the proper limits. 

We conclude this chapter with a saying that 
all must admit. The restrictions which we have 
been considering stand just as much in the way 
of a woman's doing what the churches gen- 
erally permit her to do — sing, or pray, or speak 
as they do in the way of her ordination. 

We must either go back or we must go ahead. 



68 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

We must either give her. equal rights with, 
men or we must reduce her to the servitude of 
by-gone ages. Either we must be governed 
by the Christian law of love and equity, or we 
must take a step back into barbarism and be 
governed by the law of brute force. Which 
shall it be ? 

The present position of the churches is not 
only wrong, but inconsistent. They concede 
to woman too much, if Paul's words restrict- 
ing her are taken literally ; they concede too 
little, if these words are to be so understood as 
to harmonize with the rest of the Bible. 

" Now, shame upon ye, parish Popes ! 

Was't thus with those your predecessors, 
Who sealed with racks and fire and ropes 
Their loving kindness to transgressors ? " 

— Whittier. 

If woman, in using her voice, in praising 
God, or declaring His truth, in your churches, 
is a transgressor, then silence her at whatever 
cost ; if she is doing right then remove all 
shackles and give her the liberty of the Gospel. 



OBJECTIONS — NATURAL. 69 



CHAPTER VII. 

OBJECTIONS — NATURAL.' 

" In the still air the music lies unheard ; 

In the rough marble beauty hides unseen ; 
To wake the music and the beauty, needs 

The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen." 

— Bonar. 

» 

jfT IS objected that a woman in the pulpit is 
out of her place ; that nature never de- 
signed her to be a minister of the Gospel. 

With classical literature, the old heathen 
ideas about woman's true position have come 
down to us. 

Aristotle said : "The relation of man to wo- 
man is that of the governor to his subject." 

It is urged that woman is naturally unfitted 
for the duties of a minister of the Gospel ; that 
Mature by its inexorable laws stands in the 
way of her ordination ; that she is physically 
disqualified for the ministerial office 

If this is so then there is not the slightest 
necessity for closing the pulpit against her. It 
requires no legislation to keep sheep from 



70 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

plunging into the river, or fish from invading 
the land. 

" One thing we may be certain of," says John 
Stuart Mill, "that what is contrary to women's 
nature to do, they will never be made to do by 
simply giving their nature free play. The 
anxiety of mankind to interfere in behalf of na- 
ture, for fear lest nature should not succeed in 
effecting its purpose, is an altogether unneces- 
sary solicitude. What women by nature can- 
not do it is quite superfluous to forbid them 
from doin£. What they can do, but not so 
well as the men who are their competitor?, com- 
petition suffices to exclude them from ; since 
nobody asks for protective duties and boun- 
ties in favor of women ; it ii only asked that 
the present bounties and protective duties in 
favor of men should be recalled. If women 
have a greater natural inclination for some 
things than for others, there is no need of laws 
or social inculcation to make the majority of 
them do the former in preference to the latter. 

Whatever women's services are most wanted 
for, the free play of competition will hold out 
the strongest inducements to them to under- 
take. And, as the words imply, they are most 
wanted for the thing for which they are most 
lit ; by the apportionment of which to them the 



OBJECTIONS — NATURAL. 71 

collective faculties of the two sexes can be ap- 
plied on the whole with the greatest sum of 
valuable result."* 

No special legislation, either by church or 
state, is needed to give to women their proper 
place. Leave them as free as the men are, and 
they will instinctively find their true place. If 
a woman's true position is that of wif?, she 
will not hesitate to accept it if the right man 
makes the offer. But there are more women 
than men in the United States, Why may not 
some of these become ministers of the Gospel 
if God calls them to the position and they are 
duly qualified for it % 

That ^ome women possess the physical abil- 
ity to preach is no longer a question ; it is a 
demonstrated fact that they have this ability, 
for some women do preach, and do successfully 
the most exhaustive labors of a preacher — hold 
protracted meetings. 

What does an ordained preacher do that is 
a greater draft upon the physical powers than 
preaching, and especially holding revival ser- 
vices? Some women have engaged in callings 
that tax the physical powers more than preach- 
ing and administering the sacraments. 

They are successful physicians and lawyers. 

* Subjection of Women, p. 4ft. 



72 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

Lowell, one of our popular American poets, 
writes : 

"They talk about a woman's sphere 
As though it had a limit ; 
There's not a spot in earth or heaven, 
There's not a task to mankind given 
» Without a woman in it." 

The vocation of a soldier would seem to be 
one for which women are specially unfitted by 
nature. Yet whenever they have undertaken 
it, they have met with, at least, the average 
success of the men. 

Deborah won more honor than Barak in the 
battle which they fought under her direction. 

In the battle fought by Xerxes against the 
Greeks, which decided the destiny of Europe, 
the only branch of his army that drove the 
enemy, was that commanded by Artemisia, 
queen of Halicarnassus. Herodotus, styled 
the father of history, speaks of an army of fe- 
male warriors, called "Amazons," who were 
by no means deficient in the qualities oT good 
soldiers. After they settled down, he says, they 
" retained their ancient mode of living, both 
going out on horseback to hunt with their hus- 
bands and without their husbands, and joining 
in war, and wearing the same dress as the 
men."* By their rules u no virgin was per- 



t Herodotus' History, IV:117. 



OBJECTIONS — NATURAL. 73 

mitted to marry till she had killed an enemy." 
The Athenians based their claims to prece- 
dence over the other tribes of Greece, among 
other things, on the fact that they " performed 
a valiant exploit against the Amazons, who 
once made an irruption into Attica from the 
river Thermidon."* 

It was a Greek Amazon of more recent date 
that the poet, Bryant, represents as singing : 

" I buckle to my slender side 

The pistol and the scimitar. 
And in my maiden flower and pride 

Am come to share the tasks of war. 
And yonder stands my fiery steed, 

That paws the ground, and neighs to go, 
My charger of the Arab breed, — 

I took him from the routed foe." 

Stanley speaks of the Amazons of the King 
of Uganda, and says : " What strikes us most 
is the effect of discipline. "f 

During the Hundred Years' war between 
France and England there came a time when 
it seemed as if Fiance mutt perish from among 
the nations. The English had possession of 
most of the large cities. The French King, 
Charles VI. had died, and the Parliament of 
Paris had recognized He^ry VI. of England as 
" King of England and France." The rightful 



* Herodotus 1 History, IX:27. 

t Through the Dark Continent, V. 1, p. 400. 



74 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

heir to the French throne was regarded as an 
indolent and frivolous prince. What remained 
of the French army was disheartened and de- 
moralized. Orleans, the chief city still in pos- 
session of the French, was closely besieged by 
a powerful army. 

At this juncture a peasant girl of sixteen an- 
nounced that she was called of God to deliver 
the kingdom. She was unlettered, modest, in- 
dustrious, and deeply pious. Her neighbors 
believed and respected her. To one of the 
French Knights who went to see her, as she 
was trying to find some one to take her to the 
King, she said: u Assuredly, I would far 
rather be spinning beside my poor mother ; for 
this other is not my condition ; but I must go 
and do the work because my Lord wills that I 
should do it." 

" Who is your Lord ?" demanded the knight 

4 * The Lord God," replied the maid. 

" By my faith," said the knight, " I will take 
you to the King, God helping." 

She was furnished with a coat of mail, a 
lance, a sword, and a horse — in short with the 
complete equipment of a man-at-arms. 

She rode on horseback four hundred and 
fifty miles, with a suitable escort, in eleven 
days, through a country, occupied here and 



OBJECTIONS — NATURAL. 75 

there by the English, and everywhere a theatre 
of war. 

The King received her, though some of his 
officers were greatly displeased at seeing more 
confidence placed in a peasant girl than in ex- 
perienced warriors. 

She was examined by the Chancellor of 
France, the archbishop of Rheims, five bish- 
ops, the King's counsellors, and several learned 
doctors. The examination lasted a fortnight. 
Addressing one of them, a learned doctor, she 
said : 

" I know not A. nor B. ; but in our Lord's 
Book there is more than in your books ; I come 
on behalf of the King of Heaven to cause the 
siege of Orleans to be raised, and to take the 
King to Rheims that h> may be crowned and 
anointed there." 

The doctors decided in Joan's favor. 

They reported that, " After a grave inquiry 
there had been discovered in her nought but 
goodness, humility, devotion, honesty, sim- 
plicity. Before Orleans she professes to be go- 
ing to show her sign ; so she must be taken to 
Orleans ; for to give her up without any ap- 
pearance of evil on her part would be to fight 
against the Holy Spirit, and to become unwor- 
thy o* aid from God." 



76 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

She was then examined by three of the 
greatest ladies of the Kingdom as to her life as 
a woman. They found in her " nothing but 
truth, virtue and modesty." "She spoke to 
them," says the chronicle, " with such sweet- 
ness and grace that she drew tears from their 
eyes." 

She excused herself to them for the dress 
she wore, though the sternest doctors had not 
reproached her for it. "It is m^re decent," 
said the archbishop of Embrun "to do such 
things in man's dress, since they must be done 
along with men." 

She went to Orleans at the head of a small but 
enthusiastic band of troops. 

The population received her with "joy as 
great as if they had seen God come down 
among them." " Tiiey felt," says the journal 
of the siege, "all of them recomforted and, as 
it were, disbesieged by the divine virtue which 
they had been told existed in this simple maid." 

The English were defiant. To her sum- 
mons to depart and return to their own country 
they replied with coarse insults. A fierce bat- 
tle was fought. Joan placed a scaling ladder 
against a rampart and was the first to mount. 
She was wounded between the neck and shoul- 
der. She felt faint, but prayed, and pulled 



OBJECTIONS — NATUKAL. 77 

out the arrow with her own hand. A dressing 
of oil was applied to the wound, and she retired 
and was continually in prayer. 

The French were becoming tired and dis- 
couraged, and showed signs of retreating. She 
resumed her arms, mounted her horse, waved 
her banner, and rushed forward to the battle. 
The French took courage, the English were 
struck with consternation and fled. The next 
day they retreated and the siege of Orleans 
was raised. 

In many other movements Joan was success- 
ful. At length the King, Charles VII., of 
France was crowned at Rheims. 

' " Anger is cruel and wrath is outrageous, 
but who can stand before envy V ' 

Many in authority who should have been her 
friends, secretly plotted against her, so that 
her counsels were disregarded, and at last she 
was betrayed into the hands of the English, 
who burned her alive at the stake. She met fate 
with the same heroic devotion that had charac- 
terized her life. Tvvo of the Judges who had 
condemued her to that cruel death, as she 
ceased to live cried out: " Would that my 
soul were where I believe the soul of that wo- 
man is." 

And the Secretary of the King of England, 



78 ORDAimiSTG WOME15T. 

on returning from the execution, said : " We 
are all lost : we have burned a saint." 

It is true this is an extraordinary case. 

But who shall say that, in these days, when 
the world has so nearly led the church into 
captivity that God would not, if his Spirit 
could have free course, raise up matrons and 
maidens to drive back the hosts of hell, and 
lead on the army of believers to glorious vic- 
tories ? 

On whatever shoulders God is pleased to 
place the epaulettes man should not dare pull 
them off. 

All these examples certainly prove that some 
women may possess the physical strength and 
endurance, and the courage to discharge all the 
duties of an ordained minister of the Gospel. 



WOMEtf APOSTLES 79 



CHAPTER VIII. 

WOMEN APOSTLES. 

" How ready is the man to go 
Whom God hath never sent ! 
How timorous, diffident and slow 
His chosen instrument." 

— Charles Wesley. 

11 Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect 
by your tradition." — Jesus. 

T IS assumed that there were but twelve 
apostles, and that the apostolical office ex- 
pired with them. Nothing can be plainer than 
that the New Testament teaches the contrary. 
" And God hath set some in the church, first 
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, 
after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, 
governments, diversities of tongues." — 1 Cor. 
12:28. 

This language implies, not a temporary pro- 
vision, but a permanent arrangement. 

While the twelve are spoken of in the Gos- 
pel, by way of pre-eminence, as the apostles, 
yet other apostles are mentioned in the New 
Testament. 



80 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

Thus Matthias, who was chosen to succeed 
Judas, is called an apostle (Acts 1:26); so are 
Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:14) ; and so is 
Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25), messenger in our ver- 
sion, but apostle in the original ; the brethren 
to whom Paul refers in 2 Cor. 8:23 ; and An- 
dronicus and Junia, Rom. 16:7. All these in 
the original are called apostles. 

So strong are the prejudices of even our most 
candid commentators that they resort to every 
expedient known to criticism in order so to ex- 
plain this striking text (Rom. 16:7) that it wil] 
not prove that a woman was an apostle. It 
seems impossible to them that a woman was an 
apostle in the apostolic church : and they 
therefore feel obliged to explain away the plain 
declaration of Paul that Junia was an apostle. 

1. They raise the question whether Junia 
was a woman. 

Adam Clarke says: "Junta may probably 
be the name of a woman." 

Dean Alford, who is usually so fair, says: 
u iowm, may be fern, from lowm (Junia), in which 
case she is probably the wife of Andronicus, — 
or masc, from iowi&g ( Junianus contr. Junias)." 

It is very significant that neither Dean Al- 
ford nor Dr. Clarke gives any reason for the 



WOMEN APOSTLES. 81 

doubt they suggest whether Junia was a wo- 
man. They generally abound in reasons for 
their opinions. 

But that Junta was a woman there is not the 
slightest reason to doubt. 

(1.) We have four different editions of the 
Greek Testament, including the text from which 
the Revised version was made, and they all 
have lowiav, Junia. 

(2.) If in any of the manuscripts this word 
was written with the circumflex accent, show- 
ing that it might be a contraction, some of the 
sharp-eyed critics would have noticed it. 

(3. ) Chry sos torn asserts positively that Junia 
was a woman. 

2. Dr. Clarke expresses a doubt whether 
Junia was an apostle. He says: "of note 
among the apostles." Whether this intimates 
that they were noted apostles or only highly re- 
spected by the apostles, is not absolutely clear; 
but the latter appears to me the most probable. 

" They were not only well known to St. Paul, 
but also to the rest of the apostles," 

Considering the prej indices of the age in 
which he lived, this doubt is a great conces- 
sion. 

But that Junia was an apostle will be evi- 



82 ORDAINING WOMEN". 

dent to all who will carefully weigh the follow- 
ing reasons : 

1. Dean Alford says : u Two renderings are 
given: (1.) ** of note among the apostles!' so 
that they themselves ore counted among the 
apostles ; thus the Greek ff. In support of this 
view he refers to Chrysostom, Calvin, Est, 
Wolf, Tholuck, KoJln, Olshausen and others. 

"Or (2.) ' noted among the apostles, ** i. e. well 
Tcnown and spoken of by the apostles. Thus 
Beza Grotius, Koppe, Reich e, Meyer, Fritz 
DeW. But, as Thol. remarks, had this 
latter been the meaning, we should have ex- 
pected some expression ]ike &a izacav Tuv sKKX^icyv. 
2 Cor. 8:18, throughout all the churches. 

4 ' I may besides remark, that for Paul to speak 
of any persons as celebrated among the apos- 
tles, in sense (2), would imply that he had more 
frequent intercourse with the other apostles 
than we know that he had ; and would besides be 
improbable on any supposition. The whole 
question seems to have sprung up in modern 
times from the idea that oi a^oaroioi must mean 
the Twelve only. If the wider sense found in 
Acts 14:4, 14. 2 Cor. 8:23. 1. Thess. 2:6 (com- 
pare i:l) be taken, there need be no doubt con- 
cerning the meaning." 



W0ME1S" APOSTLES. 83 

Dean Alford, then, has no doubt that Junia 
was an apostle. 

Luther, in his German Bible, translates this 
clause as follows: "welche sind beruhmte 
Apostele." who are renowned apostles. 

Chrysostom also makes the meaning clear 
beyond the shadow of a doubt. He was a man 
of great learning ; the Greek was his native 
language ; he was born A. D. 347, at Antioch. 
In his comments on this verse he says : 

" Who are of note among the apostles. And 
indeed to be apostles at all is a great thing. 
But to be even amongst these of note, just con- 
sider what a great encomium this is ! But 
they were of note owing to their works, to their 
achievements. Oh ! how great is the devotion 
of this woman, that she should be counted 
worthy of the appellation of apostle ! But 
even here he does not stop, but adds another 
encomium besides, and says, who were also in 
Christ before me." 

Thus Chrysostom plainly declares, 1. That 
Junia was a woman. 2. That she was an 
apostle. 

Olshausen, in his comment on Rom. 16:7, 
says : " Junia appears io have been the wife 
of Andronicus. 

" The title of apostle is of course to be taken 



84 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

here in the wider sense of the word." By 
" wider " he means not confined to the Twelve. 

It is without dispute that the apostles are the 
highest orcler of the ministry. God has placed 
them in the highest rank. 

Nowhere is it said in the New Testament 
that this order of the ministry became extinct 
with the first generation of Christians. God 
has set them in His church. No matter what 
arrangements men make, God raises up apos- 
tles from time to time. Luther was an apos- 
tle, sent by God to lead on the great Reforma- 
tion. 

John Wesley was an apostle. 

Elizabeth Fry was an apostle, sent by 
God to offer salvation to the hardest criminals ; 
and to set in motion reformatory influences 
that will never cease to operate. 

William Taylor is as truly an apostle as 
St. Paul w 7 as. 

Since, then, we find that, at the very begin- 
ning of the Christian church, a woman was 
an apostle, we should not, on account of 
her sex, exclude woman from any position 
in the church to which God may call her, 
and for which she possesses, in the judgment 
of those whose duty it is to decide in such 
matters, as ample qualifications as are re- 



WOMEN" APOSTLES. 85 

quired of men who aspire to the same position. 

It is high time that the tyranny of sex was 
overthrown. And the Church of Jesus Christ 
should lead the way in treating all human be- 
ings with absolute impartiality. 

Paul says he was ordained both a preacher 
and an apostle. — 1 Tim. 2:7 ; and so we may 
conclude that Junia was ordained. 

God only can make apostles But if he sends 
a woman out to do the work of an apostle, and 
she does it faithfully, why should we hesitate 
to give the Scriptural name to the office, to fill 
which she is called and qualified of God ? 

" What could I other than I did ? 

Could I a singing bird forbid ? 

Deny the wind stirred leaf ? Rebuke 

The music of the forest brook ?" 

— Whittier. 

God gives lights that they may shine ; and 
the church should cease its efforts to put out 
these lights, or to so wall them in as to limit to 
a small number those whom they may enlighten. 



86 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



CHAPTER IX. 

WOMEN PROPHETS. 

" Thyself and thy belongings 

Are not thine own so proper, as to waste 

Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee. 

Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, 

Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues 

Did not go forth of us, Gwere all alike 

As if we had them not." 

— Shakespeare. 

HAT women are to take a prominent part 
in evangelizing the world was as clearly 
foretold in the prophecies of old as was the Gos- 
pel itself. The tirst great prophecy declares 
that the seed of the woman u shall bruise the 
serpent's head."— Gen. 3:15. As Henry Mel- 
ville says, "This is a wonderful passage, 
spreading itself over the whole of time, and 
giving outlines of the history ol: this world 
from the beginning to the final consummation." 
It was by " the seed of the woman/' Christ, that 
our redemption was purchased. 

Not only this, but it was predicted that wo- 
man was to have a distinguished part in inak- 



WOMEN PKOPHETS. 87 

ing the glad tidings of salvation known. u The 
Lord gave the word, great was the company of 
those that published it."— Ps. 68:11. 

As these words stand, in our common version, 
there does not appear in them anything out of 
the common order. It is quite otherwise in the 
original. 

In his comment on this verse, Dr. Adam 
Clarke says: " Of the female preachers there 
teas a great host. Such is the literal transla- 
tion of this passage ; the reader may make of 
it what he pleases." 

We make oE it a prediction that in the days 
spoken of in this psalm, when u Ethiopia shall 
stretch out her hands unto God," women were 
to preach the Gospel. 

In the Revised version a similar meaning to 
Dr. Clarke's translation is given — 

" The Lord giveth the word ; 
The women that publish the tidings are a great host." 

Bishop Home regards this Psalm as one re- 
lating to the Messiah. He says: " It seems 
evidently to have been composed on that fes- 
tive and joyful occasion, the removal of the 
ark to Mount Sion. Under this figure, David, 
foreseeing the exaltation of Messiah, speaks of 
him whom he describes as arising and van- 
quishing his enemies, as causing the faithful 



88 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

to rejoice, and showing mercy to the afflicted ; 
as bringing his church out of bondage, support- 
ing her m the world by the Word and the Spirit, 
purging away her corruptions, and subduing 
her adversaries." 

In harmony with this, is the prophecy of Joel 
as quoted by St. Peter. 

" And it shall come to pass in the last days, 
saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon 
all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see 
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams ; 
and on my servants and on my handmaidens I 
will pour out in those days of my Spirit and 
they shall prophesy." — Acts 2:18. 

1. All the preaching here foretold is included 
in the word " prophesy." 

2. No distinction whatever is made between 
the "sons and daughters," between the "ser- 
vants and handmaidens." Whatever is affirmed 
of the one is affirmed of the other. No higher 
ministry is given to the sons than is given to 
the daughters. If one may be ordained so may 
the other. 

This prediction was not exhausted on the 
da 1 / of Pentecost. It was to continue to be 
fulfilled throughout the entire Christian dis- 
pensation. This is implied in the words, in 



WOMEN PROPHETS. 89 

the last days. If on the day of Pentecost 
they were in " the last days," then certainly we 
are now in "the last days." Then are we to 
look for the same outpouring of the Spirit on 
the women as on the men. Then have they the 
same divine right to declare, under the influ- 
ence of the Holy Spirit, the wonderful power 
and great willingness of Christ to save. 

Under the Old Dispensation, as we have seen, 
women were prophets. 

At the coming of Christ, Anna was a proph- 
etess. — Luke 2:36. 

But these were the exceptions. Under the 
Gospel, the rule is that upon women, equally as 
upon men, the propheticinfluence is to.be poured 
out, and they are to prophesy. No distinction 
of sex is to be observed in the power and lib- 
erty given by God to speak ior Him. 

It must be k>pt in mind that the primary 
meaning of prophesy is to speak for another, 
to speak under the direct influence of the Spirit 
of God. 

The first place in the Bible where the word 
prophet occurs is where God says of Abraham : 
For he is a prophet, and he shall pray for 
t?iee. — Gen. 20:7. Here is no allusion to the 
foretelling of future events. Dr. Adam 
Clarke says: "The proper ideal meaning 



90 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

of the original word is, pray, entreat, make 
supplication. Thus it is said that the Spirit 
of God came upon Saul and he prophesied " — 
1 Sam. 10:10. But there is no intimation that 
he foretold future events. 

Bat as God specially makes known His will 
to those who live in intimate communion with 
Him by prayer and Mth, some of these men 
were inspired to foretell future events. Hence 
a prophet is generally considered to be one 
who foretells. But in the Bible sense, a prophet 
is one who speaks the truth of God, inspired 
by His Spirit, whether this truth relates to 
things present or to come. A large part of the 
writings of the prophets recorded in the Old 
Testament are exhortations. 

St Paul declares : But he that prophesieth 
speaJceth unto men to edification and exhorta- 
tion and comfort. — 1 Cor. 14:3. In his com- 
ment on this verse, Dr. Clarke quotes Whitby : 
"The person who has the gift of teaching is 
much more useful to the church than he who 
has only the gift of tongues, because he speaks 
to the profit of men — viz : to their edification, 
by the Scriptures which he expounds ; to their 
exhortation by what he teaches ; and to their 
comfort by his revelation." 

Again, Greater is he that prophesieth. Says 



W0ME1S- PROPHETS. 91 

Dr. Clarke : "A useful, zealous preacher, 
though unskilled in learned languages, is much 
greater in the sight of God, and in the eye of 
sound common sense, than he who has the gift 
of those learned tongues ; except he interpret ; 
and we seldom find great scholars goodjpr each- 
ers. This should humble the scholar who is 
too apt to be proud of his attainments, and de- 
spise his less learned, but more useful brother. 
This judgment of St. Paul is too little regard- 
ed." % 
We come then to these 

CONCLUSIONS. 

1. That prophets are an established order of 
ministers in the Church of Christ. It was fore- 
told in the Old Testament, and declared in the 
New Testament, that they should be. 

2. That they rank next to the Apostles. 
And God hath set some in the church, first apos- 
tles, secondarily prophets, — 1 Cor. 12:28. See 
also Eph. 4:11, 12. This last passage declares 
that God gives them for the work of the minis- 
try, for the edifying of the body of Christ / 
that is for the sanctification of believers and 
the conversion of sinners. 

3. That in the New Testament sense, prophets 
are those called of God, and inspired by His 
Spirit to preach the Gospel. 



92 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

4. That in the prophetic office not the slight- 
est distinction is made between women and 
men. 

5. The inference is unavoidable that if men 
who give satisfactory evidence to the church 
that they are called of God to prophesy, that 
is, to preach should be ordained, then women 
who give equally satisfactory evidence that 
they are called of God to preach should be or- 
dained. We see not how this conclusion can 
be avoided. 

If it is evident that God has called a woman 
to his great work, and eminently adorned her 
with gifts and graces for its performance, then 
should the church speed her on her mission by 
solemnly indorsing it before the world, in set- 
ting her apart for the work to which God has 
called her. Whether done by man or woman, 
it is a work worthy of all recognition, 

" To guide the people in the way of truth 
By saving doctrine, and from error lead, 
To know, and knowing, worship God aright. " 



DEACONS. 98- 



CHAPTER X. 

DEACONS. 

" Not unto manhood's heart alone 
The holy influence steals ; 
Warm with a rapture not its own, 

The heart of woman feels. 
As she who by Samaria's well 

The Saviour's errand sought — 
As those who with the fervent Paul 
And meek Aquila wrought. 

— Whittier. 

JfT IS generally assumed that the seven, whose 
^ appointment as assistants of the Apostles 
is described in Acts 6:1-6, were deacons. Prob- 
ably they were. We will not question it. 
But the fact deserves notice that they are never 
called deacons. It should also be borne in 
mind that the only record we have of their acts 
is of their performing the work of a preacher 
of the Gospel. "And Stephen, full of faith 
and power, did great wonders and miracles 
among the people." — Acts 6:8. 

" And they were not able to resist the wis- 
dom and the spirit by which lie spake." 



94 ORDAINING- WOMEN. 

It is said that Philip, the evangelist, was 
one of the seven." — Acts 21:8. So that while 
4 ' the seven" were to look after the charitable 
distributions of the church it nowhere appears 
that their work was confined to this. They were 
assistants of the Apostles, and as such they 
preached. 

Nothing can be clearer than that the New 
Testament deacons were preachers. 

"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but 
ministers,") in the original deacons,) " by whom 
ye believed."— 1 Cor. 3:5. 

"Who also hath made us able ministers 
(deacons), of the New Testament." — 2 Cor. 3:6. 

44 Whereof I was made a minister (deacon)." 
Eph. 3:7. 

"To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are 
nt Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." — 
Phil. 1:1. Here the Apostle mentions but two 
classes or orders of ministers, one of which is 
the deacons. 

" Whereof I, Paul, am made a minister (dea- 
con).— Col. 1:23. 

"Timotheus, our brother and minister (dea- 
con) of God."— 1 Thess. 3:2. 

In shcrt, there is not a single passage in which 
the word deacon is used to designate an officer 
of the church, where there is any indication that 



DEACONS. 95 



this deacon was not a preacher. Jiut in the pass- 
ages quoted above, and in other passages, there 
can be no doubt but that the person styled a 
deacon was a preacher. Then the conclusion 
must be that the New Testament deacons were 
preachers. They were all preachers. 

Mosheim, in writing of the church in the first 
century, says : " Both presbyters and deacons 
preached and administered the sacrament of 
baptism, and the former the Lord's Supper."* 

There are some passages in which the word is 
taken in its primary signification of servant, such 
as Mat. 23:11, JoLn 2:5, 9, but in these passages 
the meaning is clear. They afford no more rea- 
son for asserting that the deacons of the church 
were servan ts, or any particular deacon was a 
servant, in the sense in which the word servant is 
commonly understood, than the use of the word 
ecclesia in Acts 19:39, proves that the same word 
in Rev. 2:1, shows that the " church of Ephe- 
sus" was not a church at all, but a riotous as- 
sembly. 

When any words are given an ecclesiastical 
meaning in the New Testament they must al- 
ways be understood as having that meaning 
when used in treating of church officers, and 
the connection warrants it. The word diamvo^ 



* V. 2, p. 330 t 



96 ordaining women. 

deacon, where used in the New Testament as refer- 
ring to an officer of the church, when translated 
at all, in both our common and revised versions 
is uniformly translated minister, except in one 
solitary instance. That is where it refers to a wo- 
man. " I commend unto you Phebe, our sis- 
ter, which is a servant (in the original StaKom, 
deacon) of the church which is at Cenchrea. — 
Rom, 16:1. 

Here you see the power of prejudice in even 
learned and pious men. Paul, when called a 
deacon, our translators call a minister; but 
Phebe, when called a deacon they make a servant. 
That there might be no dispute about her sex 
Paul calls her, our sister. 

That there might be no doubt about her eccle- 
siastical position he calls her deacon or minister 
of the church at Cenchrea. Nothing can be more 
clear ; nothing can be more definite. 

The churches of that day had no servants, in 
the ordinary sense of the word servant. The 
churches were poor. Their meetings were held 
in private houses. They had no church edifices. 

Here, then, we have a record in the New Tes- 
tament of one woman who was a minister. 

The apostle states the qualifications which 
the women deacons must possess. 

" Even so must their wives be grave, not slan- 



DEACONS. 97 



derers, sober, faithful in all things.''— 1 Tim. 
3:11. We had read this passage hundreds 
of times without suspecting its meaning. 
Lately, in reading it in the original, its mean- 
ing struck us as if by revelation. The word 
translated wives should be women. Their be- 
fore wives is not found in the original. So that 
what the apostle here writes, is not about the 
wives of deacons, but about women deacons. 

Chrysostom says of this, the eleventh, verse : 
" Som^ have thought that this was said of wo- 
men generally, but it is not so, for why should 
he introduce anything about women to interfere 
with his subject % He is speaking of those who 
hold the rank of Deaconesses. 

u This must be understood, therefore, to re- 
late to deaconesses. For that order is neces- 
sary and useful and honorable in the church. 
Observe how he requires the same viriue trom 
the Deacons as from the Bishops, for though 
they were not of equal rank, they must equally 
be blameless ; equally pure." 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his comment on this 
verse, says : 

" I believe the apostle does not mean here the 
wives either of the bishops or deacons in par- 
ticular, but the Christian women in genera]. 
The original is simp] y ywamaQ oGavroc; ae/ivag — gun- 



98 oKDAHsriisra women. 

aikas osautos semnas. Let the women likewise 
he grave. Whatever is spoken here becomes 
women in general ; but if the apostle had those 
termed deaconesses in his eye, which is quite 
possible, the words are peculiarly suitable to 
them. That there was such an order in the 
apostolic and primitive church, and that they 
were appointed to their office by the imposition 
of hands, has already been noticed on Rom. 16:1. 
Possibly, therefore, the apostle may have had 
this order of deaconesses in view, to whom it was 
as necessary to give counsels and cautions as 
to the deacons themselves ; and to prescribe 
their qualifications, lest improper persons 
should insinuate themselves into that office." 

Considering the time when Dr. Clarke wrote, 
this was saying a great deal. 

Dean Alf ord, one of the most learned of mod- 
ern commentators, is still more explicit. In 
Ms Greek Testament, on this passage he says : 
"(The) women in like manner. Who are these? 
Are they (1) women who were to serve as dea- 
cons, — deaconesses ? — or (2) wives of the dea- 
cons ? — or (3) wives of the deacons and over- 
seers ? — or (4) women in general ? I conceive we 
may dismiss (4) at once, for Chrysostom's rea- 
son. 

4 For why should he wish to insert anything 



DEACONS. 99 



about women foreign to the subject of which 
he was speaking ' ? 

(3. ) Upheld by Calv, Est. Calev, and Mack, 
may for the same reason, seeing that he re- 
returns to Simovoi, diakonoi ; again in verse 12, 
be characterized as extremely improbable. (2) 
has found many supporters among modern 
commentators ; Ludi, Beza. Beng., (who 
strangely adds, 'pendet ab habentes, ver. 9,) 
Rosenm. Heinr, Comyb., al., and E. V. But 
it has against it (a) the omission of all expressed 
reference to the deacons, such as might be given 
by avrav, auton their, or by rdg tas, they ; (b) the 
expression of acavroc, (osautos, likewise,) by 
which the diamvoi (deacons) themselves were 
introduced, and seems to mark a new ecclesi- 
astical class ; (c) the introduction of the injunc- 
tion respecting the deacons, earoaavfitag ywacnog avcpeg 

(husbands of one wife) as a new particular, 
which would hardly be if their wives had been 
mentioned before ; (d) the circumstances con- 
nected with the mention of Phebe as StaKovog (dea- 
con) of the church at Cenchrea on Rom. 16:1, 
that unless these are deaconesses, there would, 
be among these injunctions no mention of an 
important class of persons employed as officers 
of the church. 
We come thus to consider (1) that these 



100 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

yvvamec are deaconesses, ministrae, ministers, as 
Pliny calls them in his letter to Trajan. In 
this view the ancients are, as far as I know, 
unanimous, Of the moderns, it is held by Grot. 
Marb. Micb. DeW., Wiesinger, Ellicott. It is- 
alleged against it — (a) that thus the return to 
the SicLKovoi, (deacons), ver. 12, would be harsh, or 
as Conyb. "on that view, the verse is most 
unnaturally interpolated in the midst of the 
discussion concerning the deacons. 5 ' 

But the ready answer to this is found in 
Chry's. view of ver 12, that under Slclkovoi, and 
their household duties he comprehends in fact 

both SeXc^S Under One , ravra teal irepl ywaiK&v ocandvuv 

dpfidrrei eipjjo&ai — ("it is fitting that these things 
should be said about women deacons;") (b) 
that the existence of deaconesses as an order 
in the ministry is not after all so clear. To this 
it might be answered, that even were they no- 
where else mentioned, the present passage 
stards on its own grounds ; and if it seemed 
from the context that such persons were indi- 
cated here, we should reason from this to the 
fact of their existence, not from the absence of 
other mention to their non-indication here. 

i I decide, therefore, (1) that these womeu 
are ' deaconesses ; (must be), grave, not slander- 
ers," corresponds to m? sao-yovg (not double- 



DEACONS. 101 



tongued) in the males, being the vice to which 
the female sex is addicted; * * diapofog (" di- 
abolos") in this sense (reff) is peculiar in N. T. 
to these epistles; "sober" corresponding to 
Mq olvg) iroiio TrpooepxovTaq — (not given to much wine) 
"faithful in all things corresponds to m? 
■aioxpoKedetg, (not greedy of gain ;) trusting in the 
distribution of the alms committed to them, 
and ia all other ministrations. 

12. General directions repecting those in the 
diaconate (of both sexes, the female being in- 
cluded in the male, see Chrys., cited above 
with regard to their domestic condition and 
duties, as above (verses 4, 5), respecting the 
episcopate." 

We have given this learned note in full that 
none might think they are reading only a gar- 
bled extract. The careful English reader will 
have no difficulty in understanding it with the 
translations we have given. 

Notice 1. That though he gives the strong- 
est authorities to be found against his opinion, 
yet he himself is not in doubt as to the true 
meaning of the verse in question. — 1 Tim. 3:11. 

2. " I decide." What does he decide \ That 
the apostle refers in this verse, not to women in 
general, nor to the wives of deacons, but to 
" women deacons, deaconesses." This is the 



102 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

conclusion of Dean Alford of the church of 
England, one of the most learned and honored 
of English prelates. With this view the most 
learned of modern commentators agree. 

Olshauseirs Commentary, edited by Prof. 
Kendrick, says on 1 Tim. 3:11: "It will 
scarcely admit of a doubt that ywaaces (gunaikes) 
here is to be understood as deaconesses. The 
apostle having specified the moral qualifications 
of a deacon, is led by the homogeneousness of 
the office to connect with those such as are prop- 
er to deaconesses. 

The American Commentary, edited by Alvah 
Hovey, D. D. LL. D., has the following on this 
verse : "Women in like manner — that is wo- 
men filling the deacon's office, deaconesses." 
After giving contrary opinions, he says : " De- 
cisive reasons, however, seem here to require 
its reference to the deaconesses, who may, in- 
deed, often have been the wives of deacons, but 
who are here mentioned as the female members 
of the diaconate." 

Jimieson, Faussett and Brown, in their com- 
ment on this veree, say : 

"Their wives," rather " the women," i. e. , 
"the deaconesses." For there is no reason 
that special rules should be laid down as to the 
wives of the deacons, and not also as to the wives 



DEACONS. 103 



of the Bishops or overseers. Moreover, if the 
wives of the deacons were meant, there seems 
no reason for the omission of "their " (not in 
the Greek.) Also the Greek for "even so," (the 
same as for " likewise," v. 8, and " in like man- 
ner," ch. 2:9,) denotes a transition ta another 
class of persons. 

"Further, there were doubtless deaconesses, 
at Ephesus, such as Phecebe was at Cenchrea 
(Rom. 16-1, "servant," Greek, "deaconess"),* 
yet no mention is made of them in this epistle 
if not here ; whereas, supposing them to be 
meant here, ch. 3, embraces in due proportion 
all the persons in the service of the church. 
Naturally, after specifying the qualifications 
of the deacons, Paul passes to those of the kin- 
dred office, the deaconess. "Grave" occurs 
in the case of both. 

"Not slanderers" here, answers to "not 
double-tongued " in the deacons ; so "not false 
accusers." (Titus 2:3.) 

"Sober" here answers to "not given to 
much wine" in the case of the deacons, (v. 8). 
Thus it appears he requires the same qualifica- 
tions in female deacons as in deacons, only with 
such modifications as the difference of sex sug- 
gested. Pliny, in his celebrated letters to 
Trajan, calls them "female ministers." Faith- 



104 ORDAINING WOMEI. 

ful in all things — of life as well as faith. 
Trustworthy in respect to tbe alms committed 
to them, and their other functions, answering 
to "not greedy of filthy lucre," v. 8, in the 
case of the deacons." 

Thus we see, 1. That the officers of the New 
Testament church called deacons were preach- 
ers of the Gospel. They did other things, but 
these were incidental to the preaching. They 
were a regularly constituted and acknowledged 
order of the ministry. Paul addresses one of 
his epistles, " to all the saints in Christ Jesus 
which are at Philippi, with the bhhops and 
deacons." The deacons were not laymen, but 
one order of the ministry. 

2. That in the New Testament church some 
of the deacons were women. 

8. That provision was made for women to 
be deacons in the church of Christ for all time 
to come, for the qualifications that they must 
possess are given, as well as the qualifications 
of the men who are deacons, and these qualifi- 
cations are essentially the same. 

Then the New Testament gives to the Church 
ample authority to ordain women for the work 
of the ministry. 



DEACONESSES. 1C5 



CHAPTER XL 

DEACONESSES. 

1 ' The breach though small at first, soon opening wide, 
In rushes :lolly with a full-moon tide, 
Then welcome errors of whatever size, 
To justify it by a thousand lies. 
As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, 
And hides the ruin that it feeds upon ; 
So sophistry cleaves close to and protects 
Sin's rotten trunk, concealing its defects." 

— Cowper. 

wHE deacons of the IN ew Testament, as we 
l have seen, were preachers. They were 
assistants of the apostles. They aided them 
in spreading a knowledge of the Gospel ; for 
they were to hold the mystery of the faith in 
a pure conscience. — 1 Tim 3:9. They attended 
to the distribution of the charities of the church, 
and assisted in administering the sacraments. 

There is not, in the New Testament, the 
slightest intimation that the work of the dea- 
conesses was, in any respect, different from 
that of the deacons. 

The office was one — the functions the same. 



106 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

A postmistress discharges all the duties, and 
enjoys all of the privileges of a postmaster. 

A Queen, who succeeds to the throne in her 
own right, possesses all the prerogatives of a 
King. Elizabeth of England was no less a sov- 
ereign than her father, Henry VIII, whom 
she succeeded. 

So a deaconess, in the New Testament sense of 
the term, is simply a woman who possesses the 
functions and discharges the duties of a deacon. 

Mosheim, in speaking of the Church of the 
first century, says : " The church had ever be- 
longing to it, even from its very first rise, a class 
of ministers, composed of persons of either sex 
and who were termed deacons and deaconesses. 
Their office was to distribute the alms to the 
necessitous ; to carry the orders or messages 
of the elders wherever necessary ; and to per- 
form various other duties, some of which re- 
lated merely to the solemn assemblies that 
were held at stated intervals, whilst others 
were of a general nature."* 

This opinion that the deacons and deacon- 
esses were essentially the same, and were "a 
class of ministers," is doubtless correct. Their 
duties in the " solemn assemblies " were, in the 



* Commentaries, v. 1, p. -176. 



DEACONESSES. 107 



absence of an elder, to conduct the services 
and preach the word. 

"Learned men," says the same historian, 
"have been led to conclude, and apparently 
with much reason, that those who had given 
unequivocal proof of their faith and probity in 
the capacity of deacons, were, after a while, 
elected into the order of presbyters."* 

The practice of some of our modern churches 
of placing deacons where they belong, as an 
order in the ministry, eligible to promotion, 
and classing deaconesses among lay-worliers, 
without any possibility of ever rising to the 
higher ministries of the church, has neither rea- 
son nor Scripture for its support. It is giving 
a stone to those who call for bread. It is con- 
ferring a shadow and withholding the sub- 
stance ; it is bestowing a name and keeping 
back that which is implied in the name. In 
short it is a stupendous sham, of which any 
body of men claiming common honesty should 
be ashamed. It is an insult to womankind, 
and should be resented by them as such. Ev- 
ery woman should refuse to accept the name 
unless there is given with it all that is implied 
in the name. 



* Commentaries, v. 1, p. 176. 



108 ORBAIlSri^G WOME1ST. 

It is a wonderful presumption upon the ig- 
norance or servility of its members, ior a great 
church to say in its book of discipline : " The 
duty of a Travelling Deacon is : 1. To admin- 
ister Baptism and to solemnize Matrimony. 2. 
To assist the Elder in administering the Lord's 
Supper. 3. To do all the duties of a Travel- 
ing Preacher." 

" The duties of the deaconesses are to min- 
ister to the poor, visit the sick, p»ay with the 
dying, care for the orphan, seek the wander- 
ing, comfort the sorrowing, save the sinning, 
and, relinquishing wholly all other pursuits,, 
devote themselves, in a general way, to such 
forms of Christian labor as may be suited to 
their abilities." 

All these things may be good and important. 
That is not the question. ±>ut why make the du- 
ties of Deacons and Deaconesses so widely dif - 
erent % Why clothe the men deacons with min- 
isterial dignity, and send them into the pulpit 
to preach, and into the altar to help adminis- 
ter the sacraments ; and refuse these preroga- 
tives to the women deacons, but send them tc 
the garrets and cellars to hunt up the depraved, 
the destitute and the dying ? Why give to the 
deacons the dignity and to the deaconesses the 
drudgery? What reasoaor Scripture is there 



DEACONESSES. 1(K> 



for such, partiality ? The State does not make 
such odious distinctions. When Maria Ther- 
esa fell heir to the throne of Austria and Hun- 
gary, though the laws of Hungary recognized 
males only as successors to the Kingly power, 
she presented herself before her nobles with 
her babe in her arms, and the nobles, with one 
voice, shouted, "Hungarians, behold your 
King!" Not a monarch of her day had a 
more loyal following, or a more vigorous and 
glorious reign. Though a Queen she had all the 
prerogatives of a King. 

What would be thought of a Board of Edu- 
cation that, in its proposals for Teachers should 
say: 

"It shall be the duty of the School Master 
to instruct their pupils, maintain order and 
discharge the duties of a School Teacher. 

"It shall be the duty f the School Mis- 
tress to look up poor children, provide for 
them, bind up the wounds of those that get 
hurt, and devote her whole time to labors 
among necessitous children." 

All this might be necessary and useful, but 
the number of qualified female teachers who 
would apply for the position would be small. 

No. The disgraceful business of insulting 
womanhood, by giving to woman an office with 



110 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

an honorable name, and then divesting that 
office of the functions that belong to it when 
filled by a man, is confined to professed 
churches of Jesus Christ. Women ought to 
put an end to it by refusing to submit to such 
a glaring imposition. 

To relieve the suffering is a Christ-like work. 
In it all Christians and especially Christian 
ministers should bear a pait. If the church 
depute it to some of its more devoted female 
members, we will not complain, but the church 
should not dignify these almoners of its bounty 
with a ministerial title, and yet forbid them to 
exercise the functions belonging to that order 
of the ministry, which bears the same title. 

"And the parson made it his text that 
week and he said likewise, 
That a lie which is half a truth is ever 

the blackest of lies, 
That a lie which is all a lie may be met 

and fought with outright, 
But a lie which is part a truth is a 
harder matter to fight." 

— Tennyson. 

That a Christian church mav have women 
deacons is true ; but this truth loses its essence 
by refusing to give to this office the functions 
that belong to it when filled by men. 



EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. Ill 



CHAPTER XII. 

EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 

" Lo ! in the clouds of heaven appears 

God's well-beloved Son ; 
He brings a train of brighter years, 

His Kingdom is begun. 
He comes a guilty world to bless 
With mercy, truth and righteousness." 



-Bryant. 



5THE progress of the Gospel is slow. A large 
7 part of the human race have never heard 
of Christ. The darkness of idolatry rests upon 
a great majority of the families of the Earth. 
The number of heathen and Mohammedans is 
vastly greater than the number of even nominal 
Christians. 

In the most favored Christian lands, how 
few real Christians are found ! How small the 
numbers who even profess to be born of God ! 
and of these how small the proportion who 
give Scriptural evidence of this supernatural 
change! "We know that whosoever is born 
of God sinneth not ; but he that is begotten of 



112 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

God keepeth himself, and that wicked one 
toucheth him not " — 1 Jno. 5:18. 

" How monstrous," says Finney, "and how 
melancholy the fact, that the great mass of 
professing Christians to this day recognize the 
7th and not the 8th chanter of Romans as their 
own experience ! According to this, the new 
birth or regeneration does not break the power 
of the propensities over the will. The truth 
is, and must not be disguised, that they have 
notany ju:t idea of regeneration. They mis- 
take conviction for regeneration. They are so 
enlightened as to perceive and affirm their obli- 
gation to deny the flesh, and often resolve to 
do it, but in fact do it not They only strug- 
gle with the flesh, but are continually worsted 
and brought into bondage : and this they call 
a regenerate state. O, sad ! How many thou- 
sands of souls have been blinded by this delu- 
sion and gone down to hell !" 

What is the cause of this comparative fail- 
ure of Christianity? The Gospel is designed 
by (jrod for all nations. It is adapted to 
them. It is intended for every individual. 
It gives a happiness that nothing else can 
aff; rd. Every nation that embraces Chris- 
tianity is elevated by it. Prosperity attends 
its progress. In its triumphal march it scat- 



EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 113 

ters blessings with a lavish hand. Where- 
ever it goes, it establishes schools and churches^ 
it builds homes and hospitals, it brings peace 
and comfort. Yet this outward prosperity is 
but " the dust of that diamond which consti- 
tutes her crowning gift — the shed blossoms of 
that tree of life of which the office of Christ is 
to dispense the immortal fruit." Even oppo- 
sers of the Gospel admit the beneficent effects 
of the Gospel. " So conspicuous have been 
the triumphs of the cross in many of the most 
hopeless parts of the heathen world, that even 
the magicians of worldly philosophy begin to 
acknowledge that this is the finger of God, 
and to despair of ever being able to do the same 
with their enchantments." 

Why then is not the Gospel carried to the 
ends of the earth ? Why is it not preached »,o 
every creature ? It is not for lack of means. 
Money is poured out freely fo'r enterprises 
bearing the Christian name, but serving chiefly 
as monuments of pride. The amount expended 
to build and run a fashionable church would 
build and run a dozen equally commodious, 
and better adapted to the spread of Christian- 
ity. But the Gospel does not depend on edi- 
fices ; it can use money, but it is not depend, 
ent upon it. The apostles went out without 



114 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

purse or scrip. The early evangelists had no 
salaries. One can be converted in a tent more 
easily than in a cathedral, as cathedrals are con- 
trolled, A multitude assembled under God's 
great canopy is as accessible to divine truth as 
if they were standing in Westminster Abbey. 
It was their out- door work which made Wesley 
and Whitfield the great apostles of their day. 

Nor is it for lack of influence that the Gos- 
pel does not make more rapid progress in Chris- 
tian and in heathen lands. Our great states- 
men, and soldiers, and men of science openly 
avow their belief of the Gospel. Said Henry 
Clay : "I believe in the truth of Christianity, 
though I am not certain of having experienced 
that change of heart which divines call the new 
birth. But I trust in God, and Jesus, and 1 
hope for immortality. I have tried the world 
and found its emptiness. It cannot fill and sat- 
isfy the human mind." 

Says Stephens, a celebrated literary man of 
England: "In the long annals of skeptical 
philosophy no single name is to be found to 
which the gratitude of mankind has been 
yielded or is justly due," The benefactors of 
mankind are Christians. The Gospel is no 
longer an experiment. Its beneficent effects 
are seen and acknowledged. This of itself 



EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 115 

opens the way for the heralds of the cross. 

In addition to all these human influences in 
its favor, the Gospel, wherever it is faithfully 
proclaimed, carries with it a divine energy thai; 
nothing but the free will of man can withstand. 
It is the "power of God unto salvation to every 
one that believeth." The promise, u Lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world," still holds good. Where Christ is, 
there His power is exerted, silently it may be, 
but nevertheless powerfully for the good of 
all present. No other advocate has such as- 
sistauce as he who, possessed of the Holy Spirit, 
advocates the Gospel. He may be wanting in 
human learning. Men may oppose him and 
persecute him, and put him to death, but they 
are not ' ' able to withstand the wisdom and the 
Spirit by which he speaks." There is a con- 
Tincing power in his plain, simple words to 
which it is difficult to reply. 

Melancthon said: "That Luther's words 
were born, not on his lips, but in his soul." 

Why, then, we repeat, does not Christianity 
root out all false religions ? and why does it 
not have a more marked effect upon the lives 
of those who acknowledge its truth? There 
must be a cause. 

The reason is, that the vast majority of those 



116 ORDAIJSTLNG WOMEN/ 

who embrace the Gospel are not permitted to 
labor according to their ability ', for the spread 
of the Gospel. 

It is said that about two-thirds of alJ the 
members of all the Protestant churches ot this 
country are women. Yet in these churches a 
woman, no matter what may be her qualifica- 
tion, and devotion, and zeal, is not permitted 
to occupy the same position as a man. The 
superior must, sometimes, give place to the 
inferior. The bungler must give directions, 
the adept must obey. Theincompetenl coward 
must command, if no competent man is found, 
while the competent woman is relegated to the 
rear. A Deborah may arise, but the churches, 
by their laws, prohibit her from coming to the 
front. And these laws must be enforced 
though all others are disregarded. 

In some of the churches a woman is forbid- 
den to speak or pray in even a social meeting 
if men are present ! In none of these, ex- 
cept amon^ the Friends, is woman given the 
same position, or the same opportunity for ad- 
vancement as the man. She is, of set purpose 
kept bacK, while cunning contrivances are 
adopted to make her think that she is accorded 
all the liberty she wants. She suffers in conse- 
quence, but the cause of God suffers most. 



EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 117 

What a loss the world would have sustained 
if John Wesley had been suppressed in infancy ! 
The work which Frances Willard is doing 
in the cause of temperance, and of moral 
reform, gives us some idea of what woman 
is capable of doing when left free to exercise 
the gifts and graces which Grod has given her. 
It is impossible to estimate the extent to which 
humanity has suffered by the unreasonable and 
unscriptural restrictions which have been put 
upon women in the churches of Jesus Christ. 
Had they been given, since the days of the first 
Apostles, the same rights as men, this would 
be quite another world. Not only would the 
Gospel have been more generally diffused 
among mankind, but its influence, where its 
truth is acknowledged, would have been in- 
conceivably greater. Our so-called Christian 
nations would have been more in harmony 
with the teachings of Christ, in their laws, their 
institutions and their practices. 



118 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



CHAPTER XIII 



REQUIRED. 

' ' In God's own might 
We gird us for the coming fight, 
And, strong in Him, whose cause is ours, 
In conflict with unholy powers, 
We grasp the weapons He has given, 
The Light, and Truth, and Love of Heaven. 

— Whittier. 

t 

** ^gjjtHY ordain women as long as the right 



to preach is quite generally conceded 
to them ? Why should they not be satisfied 
with the privileges they now enjoy ?" 

Reader, will you consider candidly our an- 
swers to these questions ? 

The last, great Command of Christ requires 
that they who make converts should be invested 
with authority to administer the sacrament of 
baptism. u Go ye, therefore, and teach all 
nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with 



KEQUIRED. 119 



you alway ; even unto the end of the world. 
Amen. v -Mat. 28:19, 20. 

."Notice the close connection of teach and 
baptize in this important text : Go ye, there- 
fore, and make disciples of all the nations, 
baptizing them. — R. V. This certainly implies 
that those who make disciples for Christ, — get 
sinners converted, should, as a rule, baptize 
them. The same persons who are commanded 
to make disciples are commanded to baptize 
them. Till they have done this, their work is 
not complete. The one is a part of their mis- 
sion as well as the other. They who catch the 
fish may string the fish. 

These revivalists may be " proved first,' 5 (1 
Tim. 3:10,) but if found worthy and reliable, 
they should be clothed with authority to ad. 
minister the sacraments to those whom they 
get converted. 

If a woman, then, is permitted to hold revi 
vais, — to do the' work of an evangelist,— she 
should, when properly tried, if found duly 
qualified, be ordained. TLe churches must 
either stop her work or allow her to complete 
her work. Woman must either be permitted 
to baptize, or she must not be permitted to 
make converts. 

By the present arrangement, the Churches 



120 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

separate what God has joined together. 

1 ' Must, then, every one who gets a sinner 
converted, baptize him?" 

We do not affirm this. But if he keeps on 
getting sinners converted, and is evidently 
called of God to make this the business of life 9 
then the Church, when ^it is satisfied of this, 
should authorize him to administer the sacra- 
ments. Whoever makes full proof of a call to 
the ministry should, in due time, be invested 
with the full functions of the ministry. 

In oriental countries, where women are kept 
in great seclusion, it is necessary that women 
should be authorized to administer baptism 
to their female converts. That this right is 
not conceded is one reason why the progress 
of the Gospel is comparatively so slow in those 
Jands 

Miss Fannie J. Sparkes, a well-known, able 
missionary to India, sends us the following 
incident : 

" I was in camp at Bahere, in the Bareilly dis- 
trict, with Rev. and Mrs. J. H. Gill. We went 
one evening to the house ot a poor, low caste 
man in a near village where three men and 
one woman were to be baptized. A number of 
The neighbors came in ; all sat on the ground 
in the little enclosed yard in iront of the house. 



REQUIRED. 121 



the men on one side and the women on the 
other. The baptismal service began, and when 
the usual questions were asked, simplified so as 
to be easily understood by the candidates, the 
men responded readily, but the woman re- 
mained silent. Mr. Gill tried to persuade her 
to respond, but in vain ; and finally said to me, 
4 You ask her the questions. 5 I did so, and 
immediately received ready, satisfactory re- 
plies. 

The three men were then baptized , the wo- 
man was kneeling in the midst of a little group 
of women near Mrs. Gill and myself. As Mr. 
Gill was about to place his hand upon her head, 
with a quick, nervous movement she drew her 
chaddah over her face, and put her head upc n 
the ground in a position quite out ol the reach 
of his hand, and could not be induced to con- 
sent to the baptism that evening. We got her 
to promise to visit us at our tents the next 
morning, which she did, and after some per- 
suasion, she again consented to be baptized. 
The questions were put and answered as be- 
fore ; the little woman was growing painfully 
nervous and began to give her chaddah little 
twitches, as the minister was again about to 
place his hand upon her head. Seeing that 
she was likely to repeat the action of the pre- 



122 OKDAIJNTNG WOMEN. 

vious evening, I placed my hand upon her 
head. She recognized the touch and remained 
perfectly quiet until the ceremony was fin- 
ished." 

To this woman, as to every one of the mil- 
lions of women of India, the touch of the hand 
of any man except that of her husband means 
pollution. It is the necessary result of the edu- 
cation of centuries. Do you say it is a preju- 
dice % If so, it is one to be admired ; and one 
which the Church of Christ should respect. It 
is impossible for a nation to become a Christian 
nation until its women become Christians. The 
women of India must be reached mainly by wo- 
men. Then there should be women mission- 
aries, clothed with authority to administer all 
the ordinances, as well as to offer all the con- 
solations of the Christian religion. 

But Christianity is intended for all lands. 
It is adapted to all nations. The churches of 
America should adopt such regulations as will 
enable them to meet the wants of the people of 
Asia. 

Again, it is unjust to invite a woman to be- 
come a worker in the Church, and then, what- 
ever may be her qualifications, her abilities 
and her success, forever exclude her by arbi- 
trary enactments from its higher ministries. 



REQUIRED. 123 



Honorable worldlings do not act so unjustly. 
Is a woman permitted to teach a primary class 
in our schools ? Then may she, when qualified, 
teach Latin and Greek and Algebra, become 
Principal and even school Superintendent. 
The highest scholastic honors are not withheld 
from her simply because she is a woman. 
Dartmouth and Columbia, two of our renowned 
Colleges, conferred, each of them, the title of 
LL. D. on Maria Mitchell, one of the greatest 
astronomers of the age. 

When the captain and owner of a Mississippi 
river boat suddenly died, his wife assumed 
command, and when the civil authorities, after 
a rigid examination, found that she pos- 
sessed the necessary qualifications, they 
promptly licensed her as a Captain. Her sex 
did not debar her from promotion in a calling 
for which men are specially adapted. Nor was 
the precedent considered dangerous. The gal- 
lant sailors did not fear that they would be 
superseded by women as commanders of ships. 

Is a woman permitted to conduct a trial in a 
Justice's Court ? She may also be admitted ta 
practice in the higher courts. There is, in the 
aggregate, quite a number of women lawyers 
in the several states. Yet the men of the world 
do not appear to have any apprehension lest 



124 ORDAINING WOMEJST. 

they should be crowded out of the legal pro- 
fession. 

Woman owes her elevation to Christianity. 
She shows her appreciation by rallying around 
the cross of Christ. 

Justice, then, demands that all barriers 
placed by men in the way of the elevation of 
woman to any office in the gift of the church 
be removed. 

" Even if we cotild do without them," writes 
John Stuart Mill, "would it be consistent 
with justice to refuse to them their fair share 
of honor and distinction, or to deny to them 
the equal moral right of all human beings to 
choose their occupation (short of injury tooth- 
ers) according to their own preferences, at 
their own risk? Nor is the injustice confined 
to them ; it is shared by those who are in a 
position to benefit by their services. To ordain 
that any kind of persons shall not be physi- 
cians, or shall not be advocates, or shall not 
be members of parliament, is to injure not them 
only, but all who employ physicians or advo- 
cates, or elect members of parliament, and who 
are deprived of the stimulating effect of greater 
competition on the exertions of the competi- 
tors, as well as restricted to a narrower range of 
individual choice." 



FITNESS. 125 



CHAPTER XIV- 

FITNESS. 

11 'Tis hers to pluck the amaranthine flower 
Of Faith, and round the Sufferer's temples bind 
Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower, 
And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind. 

— Wordsworth. 

^ATURALLY, woman is, to say the least, 
cy equally qualified with men for the minis- 
try of the G-ospeL 

A celebrated skeptic bears the following tes- 
timony to the character of woman : 

" I tell you women are more prudent than 
men. I tell you, as a rule, women are more 
truthful than men. I tell you that women are 
more faithful than men — ten times as faithf ul 
as men. I never saw a man pursue his wife 
into the very ditch and dust of degradation 
and take her in his arms. I never saw a man 
stand at the shore where she had been morally 
wrecked, waiting for the waves to bring back 
even her corpse to his arms ; but I have seen 
woman do it. I have seen woman with her 



126 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

white arms lift man from the mire of degrada- 
tion, and hold him to her bosom as though he 
were an angel." 

Dr. Lardner says of the women of Jerusalem 
in the days of Christ: "The number of wo- 
men who believed in Jesus as the Chris c, and 
professed faith in Him was not inconsiderable. 
Many of these there were, who had so good un- 
derstanding, and so much virtue, as to over- 
come the common and prevailing prejudice. 
Without any bias or passion or worldly inter- 
ests, and contrary to the judgments and men- 
aces of men in power, they judged rightly in a 
controverted point, of as much importance as 
was ever debated on earth." * 

A Greek writer of the second century said : 
"It is wonderful what women these Christians 
have." 

1. Women comprehend and drink in the 
Spirit of the Gospel more readily than men. 

Christ very plainly told the Twelve that he 
would rise again the third day. But they did 
not seem to understand it. But the women ap- 
peared to understand it ; and, at early dawn, 
on the third morning "came Mary Magdalene 
and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." 
They were on the lookout, and to them Christ 



* Works, v. ix, p. 437. 



FITNESS. 127 



first showed himself after his resurrection. It 
was a woman that he commissioned to go to 
his disciples and foretell, them of his ascension. 
Woman entered readily into the spirit of his 
words. It was in the apostolic church that 
woman began to teach the teachers of the Chris- 
tian religion. Fettered as she has been, Chris- 
tianity owes much to her for the progress it has 
already made. 

Clovis, King of the Franks, was a great war- 
rior, and a pagan. His people, too, were idol- 
aters. He married Clotilde, a Burgundian 
princess, a Christian, absorbed in works of 
piety and charity. Through her influence he 
became a Christian. To Remi, a godly bishop 
whom his wife had sent for, in about the year 
A. D. 496, to baptize him, he said: "I will 
listen to thee, most holy father, willingly ; but 
there is a difficulty. The people that follow 
me will not give up their gods." The King 
called the people together. They were better 
di sposed than he thought they were. The influ- 
ence of his wife had been more powerful than he 
supposed. The great multitude cried out : 
" We abjure the mortal gods ; we are ready to 
follow the immortal God whom Remi preach- 
eth." So France became a Christian nation. 

About the year A. D. 568, Ethelbert, King 



128 ordaining women. 

of Kent in England, married Bertha, the only- 
daughter of Caribei t, King of Paris, one of the 
descendants of Clovis. Ethelbert and his Sax- 
ons were fierce warriors, and staunch idolaters. 
But his wife, devout, irreproachable in con- 
duct, exerted her influence to the utmost, for 
the conversion of her husband, and the Anglo- 
Saxons with their King embraced Christianity. 

If woman has done so much, under the re- 
strictions placed upon her in the days of bar- 
barism, under the reign of force, and which 
have been perpetuated to our day, what might 
she not have done had all restrictions on ac- 
count of sex been removed, and she been free 
to exert her abilities to the utmost in the cause 
of Christ ? 

Fenelon was one of the most godly, learned 
and useful ministers that has ever taught in 
the Roman Catholic church. But he was free 
to acknowledge that he received spiritual in- 
struction from Madame Guion. His writings 
on religious experience are read with deep in- 
terest by Protestants to this day. 

The work begun by John Wesley was carried 
on mainly by uneducated preachers. But for 
his employment of these lay- preachers, there 
is no reason to believe that the work of Wes- 
ley would have had any greater permanence 



FITNESS. 129 



than did that of Whitefield, But for the adop- 
tion of this powerful agency Wesley was in- 
debted to his mother. 

Mr. Wesley was a strong churchman, and 
could not tolerate any vioiation of what he con- 
sidered the order of the Church. Thomas 
Maxfield was the first layman among his fol- 
lowers who attempted to preach. 

u It was," says Dr. Adam Clarke, "in Mr. 
Wesley's absence that Mr. Maxfield began to 
prench. Being informed of this new and ex- 
traordinary thing, he hastened back to London 
to put a stop to it. Before he took any de- 
cisive step, he spoke to his mother on the sub- 
ject, and informed her of his intention. She 
said, (I have had the account from Mr. Wes- 
ley himself) : 

1 My son, I charge you before God, beware 
what you do ; for Thomas Maxfield is as much 
called to preach the Gospel as you were.' This 
was one of the last things that a person of such 
high church principles might be expected to 
accede to."* 

But in this, as in many other things, Mr. 
Wesley followed the advice of his mother. 
The survival of Methodism is largely, and I 
think wholly, due to this. If the work had 



The Wesley Family, p. 412. 



130 okdatisthstg WOMEN. 

been carried on only by the labors of clergy- 
men of the Church of England, it never would 
have attained to the proportions it did ; and it 
would have been absorbed by the Church. 

If, then, women are quicker than men to 
comprehend the mystery of godliness, if they 
have keener spiritual perceptions, and deeper 
intuitions, they should not be, by arbitrary 
enactments, excluded on account of their sex, 
from any position that can make their influ- 
ence more widely felt. Every one should be 
placed in tha position where she can do most 
good. 

2. Woman has a special aptitude for teach- 
ing. 

This is acknowledged by the general selec- 
tion of women to teach in our public schools. 
They succeed as teachers. 

In the work of the ministry, so far as they 
have been permitted to attempt it, women have 
acquitted themselves as creditably as men. 

Where they liave labored, prejudices have 
been removed. 

His biographer says that Adam Clarke had 
"considerable prejudice against this kind of 
ministry." But he went to a circuit on which 
Miss Mary Sewel had preached. 

" Meeting her, he questioned her concerning 



FITKESS. 131 



her call. She modestly answered, by referring 
him to the places where she had preached, and 
wished him to inquire whether any good had 
been done. lie did so, and heard of numbers 
who had been awakened under her ministry, 
and with several of them he conversed, and 
found their experience in Divine things Scrip- 
tural and solid. He thought, then, This is 
God' s work, and if he chooses to convert men 
by employing such means, who am I that I 
should criticise the ways of God V ' 

After hearing her preach he wrote : "I have 
this morning heard Miss Sewel preach ; she has 
a good talent for exhortation, and her words 
spring from a heart that evidently ieels deep 
concern for the souls of the people ; and con- 
sequently her hearers are interested and affect- 
ed. I have formerly been no friend to female 
preaching, but my sentiments are a little al- 
tered. If God give to a holy woman a gift for 
exhortation and reproof, I see no reason why 
it should not be used. This woman's preach- 
ing has done much good ; and fruits of it may 
be found copiously in different places in the 
circuit. I can therefore adopt the saying of a 
shrewd man, who, having heard her preach, 
and being asked his opinion of the lawfulness 
of it, answered, 'An ass reproved .Balaam, and 



132 ORDAINING WOMEN". 



a cock reproved Peter, and why may not a wo- 
man reprove sin V 

"Such women should be patterns of all piety, 
of unblamable conversation, correct and use- 
ful in their families, and furnished to every 
good work. This certainly is the character of 
Miss Sewel, and may she ever maintain it." 

Hearing another woman preacher, Mrs. 
Proudfoot, he wrote : " She spoke several per- 
tinent things, which tended both to conviction 
and consolation ; and seems to possess genuine 
piety. If the Lord choose to work in this way, 
shall my eye be evil because he is good ? God 
forbid ! Rather let me extol the God who, by 
contemptible instruments and the foolishness 
of preaching, saves those who believe in Jesus. 
Thou, Lord, choosest to confound the wisdom 
of the world by foolishness, and its strength 
by weakness, that no soul may glory in thy 
presence, and the excellency of the power may 
be seen to belong to thee alone. Had not this 
been the case, surely I had never been raised 
up to call sinners to repentance." 

This testimony is the more valuable, coming 
from a reluctant witness, who confesses that he 
was prejudiced. 

To the objection that such cases are excep- 
tions, we reply in the words of John Stuart Mill : 



FITNESS. 133 



"It is not sufficient to maintain that women 
on the average are less gifted than men on the 
average, with certain of the higher mental fac- 
ulties, or that a smaller number of women than 
of men are fit for occupations and functions of 
the highest intellectual character. It is neces- 
sary to maintain that no women at all are fit for 
them, and that the most eminent women are 
inferior in mental faculties to the most mediocre 
of the men on whom those functions at present 
devolve. For if the performance of the func- 
tion is decided either by competition, or by any 
mode of choice which secures regard to the 
public interest, there needs be no apprehension 
that any important employments will fall into 
the hands of women inferior to the average 
men, or to the average of their male competi- 
tors. The only result would be that there 
would be fewer women than men in such em- 
ployments ; a result certain to happen in any 
case, if only from the preference always likely 
to be felt by the majority of women for the one 
vocation in which there is nobody to com- 
pete with them. Now, the most determined 
depredator of women will not venture to 
deny, that when we add the experience of 
recent times to that of ages past, women, and 
not a few, merely, but many women, have 



134 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

proved themselves capable of everything, per- 
haps without a single exception, which is done 
by men, and of doing it successfully and cred- 
itably. The utmost that can be said is, that 
there are many things which none of them have 
succeeded in doing as well as they have been 
done by some men — many in which they have 
not reached the very highest rank. But there 
are extremely few, dependent on mental facul- 
ties, in which they have not attained the rank 
next the highest. Is not this enough, and 
much more than enough, to make it a tyranny 
to them, and a detriment to society, that they 
should not be allowed to compete with men for 
the exercise of these functions? Is it not a 
mere truism to say, that such functions are of- 
ten tilled by men far less tit for them than num- 
bers of women, and who would be beaten by 
women in any fair field of competition?" 

3. The practical turn of woman's mind spe- 
cially fits her for tile work of the Gospel min- 
istry. 

Women generally are not given to abstrac- 
tions, They make the most of the realities about 
them. Ca>es occur where the father of a fam- 
ily, overwhelmed with misfortune, dies in de- 
spair ; the mother, though unused to the man- 
agement of affairs, gathers up the fragments, 



FITNESS. 135 



gradually retrieves their fortunes, and raises 
her family in respectability and honor. 

In the year 1348 a fearful plague, which 
started in China, visited Europe. In London, 
one hundred thousand people died. Italy lost 
half its inhabitants. It is estimated that in 
Europe twenty-five million people perished. 
The survivors were panic-stricken. Men tried 
to stop the plague by murdering the Jews. In 
Mayence alone, twelve thousand of this perse- 
cuted race were sacrificed in the vain hope of 
stopping the ravages oT this terrible plague. 

Then they tried a painful, humiliating pen- 
ance. They formed companies, called Flagel- 
lants, and marched from town to town in pro- 
cesssion, robed in sombre garments, with red 
crosses on their breasts, their faces bent down, 
and bearing in their hands triple scourges hav- 
ing points of iron, with which, at stated times, 
they lacerated their bodies till the blood ran 
down to the ground. 

The women, more sensible, formed bands to 
nurse and tend the sick. The miseries they 
could not prevent they sought to alleviate. 

This disposition of woman to look at the 
present, and make the best of existing circum- 
stances, would be of great benefit to the cause 
of Christianity if all restrictions on account of 



136 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

sex were removed, and she were left free to do 
good according to her inclination and ability. 

4. Women are not wanting in the courage and 
fortitude essential to the minister of the Q-os 
pel. The bold Peter denied Christ, but the 
New Testament gives us no account of any wo- 
man who opened her mouth against him in the 
face of danger. The annals of the church, in 
the days of persecution, tell us of many a no- 
ble, tender, gentle woman who met death in its 
most terrific foim rather than deny Christ. 

At Port Royal, in the days of Louis XIV., 
were assembled some women of noble birth 
and great talents, who had consecrated them- 
selves wholly to God, and who made it their 
one business to serve and please Him in all 
things. Though devout Catholics, the doctrine 
of holiness which they taught rendered them 
obnoxious to worldly ecclesiastics and a cor- 
rupt court. The Archbishop of Paris made 
them a visit to persuade them to renounce their 
faith. Not succeeding, he said angrily as he 
left : 

' * They are pure as angels and proud as de- 
mons." 

Persecution was kindled against them. To 
a friend who came to see her, Mother Angelica 
said : 



FITNESS. 137 



" Madame, when there is no God I shall lose 
courage ; but so long as God is God. I shall 
hope in Him." 

Jacqueline Pascal wrote : " What have we 
to fear? Banishment and dispersion for the 
nuns, seizure of tern porn lities, imprisonment 
and death, if you will ; but is not that our 
glor}^, and should it not be our joy? Let us 
renounce the Gospel or follow the maxims of 
the Gospel, and deem ourselves happy to suffer 
somewhat for righteousness' sake. I know 
that it is not for daughters to defend the truth, 
though one might say, unfortunately, that since 
the bishops have the courage of daughters, the 
daughters must have the courage of bishops : 
bul, if it is not for us to defend the truth, it is 
for us to die for the truth, and suffer every- 
thing rather than abandon it." 

Of woman's mental ability to meet all the 
requirements of the Christian ministry, but 
little mere need be said. It is not long, since 
colleges were closed against women, because 
they were not thought capable of acquiring a 
complete and thorough education. But expe- 
rience has demonstrated that there are women 
capable of standing side by side with men in 
the highest departments of scholarship. 

The higher mathematics are generally con- 



138 ORDATNIJSTG WOMEN. 

sidered the severest test of intellectual'strength. 
Yet several women have excelled as mathema- 
ticians. Caroline Herschel, who died in 1848, 
aged 98 years, was one of the great astrono- 
mers of the world. She was elected a member 
of the Royal Society, which conferred on her 
their gold medal for completing the catalogue 
of nebulae and stars observed by her brother. 
One of her astronomical works was published 
at the expense of the Royal Society. 

In the colleges to which young women are 
admitted, they at least come up to the average 
standing of young men. 

If, then, woman has the spiritual discern- 
ment, the aptitude for teaching, the prudence 
and courage necessary to qualify her for the 
work of the ministry in all its departments, 
why not ordain her ? Why deprive the church 
and the world, in any degree, of the services 
they need, and which she is able and willing to 
render^ 



GOVERNING. 139 



CHAPTER XV. 

GOVERNING. 

"Mightier far 
Than strength of nerve, or sinew, or the sway 
Of magic potent over sun and star, 
Is love, though oft to agony distrest, 
And though his favorite seat be feeble woman's breast." 

— Wordsworth, 
■ 

H JfF women are ordained, it will open the 
^ way for them to take a prominent part in 
the Government of the Church." 

And why should they not ? " Because Paul 
says : " I suffer not a woman to usurp author- 
ity over the man." — 1 Tim. 2:12. 

But to exercise authority with which one is. 
lawfully invested, is not to usurp authority. 
Queen Victoria exercises authority over men ; 
but she is not a usurper. 

Dean Alford translates this passage, nor to 
lord it over. 

In the original, the word is av&evret^ authentein, 
to be a despot. Neither must men be lords over 
God's heritage. — 1 Pet. 5 : 3. 



140 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

Women took a prominent part in the gov- 
ernment of the apostolic church. 

The apostles, inspired as they were, did not 
assume to govern the Church. They recog- 
nized the authority to govern as belonging to 
the church itself — to the men and women of 
whom it was composed. 

The first Christian church met in Jerusalem, 
in an upper room. The women are specially 
mentioned as being present. — Acts 1:14. Peter 
stood up in the midst of the disciples, and ad- 
dressed them : "Men and brethren/" These 
words, like the word "disciples,'' are generic 
terms, and include both men and women. He 
told them that, out of the men who had com- 
panied with them lrom the beginning, ''must 
one be ordained to be a witness with us of his 
resurrection." — Acts 1:22. And they appointed 
two. The word "they' ! here refers to the 
whole body of the disciples, of whom "there 
were together about one hundred and twenty." 
Thus the members of the Church, and not the 
apostles, made the selection. 

Again, when the twelve needed assistants to 
minister to the necessities of dependent be- 
lievers, they did not themselves make the selec- 
tion. They called together the multitude of 
the disciples. That this multitude included 



GOVERNING 141 



women, there can be no question. To them 
the apostles said: if Wherefore, brethren, 
look ye out among you seven men of honest 
repcr!, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, 
whom we may appoint over this business." — 
Acts 6:3. " And this saying pleased the whole 
multitude. ' ' They chose seven : ' ' Whom they 
set before the apostles ; and when they had 
prayed, they laid their hands on them/' — Acts 
6:6. The whole does not mean a part — much 
less the smaller part. He who asserts that 
women had no place in this transaction must 
furnish proof for the assertion. But none can 
be had. The whole multitude of the disciples 
comprehends women. 

There is no Scripture which forbids the ordi- 
nation of woman on the ground that, being 
ordained, she will have a part in the govern- 
ment of the church. 

The elders were rulers, in both the Jewish 
and the Christian church. "Let the elders 
that rule well be counted worthy of double 
honor, especially they who labor in the word 
and doctrine."— 1 Tim. 5:17. The word " el- 
der," in the original, as in the English, is in 
the comparative degree. It is found sixty- 
seven times in the New Testament. In sixty- 
three passages it evidently means a church 



142 ORDAINIKG WOMEN. 

officer. It is used in the following passages 
only, in its primary signification of one older 
than another. " Now his elder son was in the 
field/' — Luke 15:22. "And your old men 
shall dream dreams. — Acts 2:17. " Likewise 
ye younger submit yourselves unto the elder. — 
1 Pet. 5:5. 

Concerning one passage is there a doubt. 
"Rebuke not an elder but entreat him as a 
father." — 1 Tim. 5:1. If, as the translators of 
both our common, and of the Revised, versions, 
appear to think, the word elder here denotes 
an officer of the church, then we contend the 
same meaning should be given it in the second 
verse, which is a part of the same sentence. 
Then it would read: "The women elders as 
mothers," instead of "the elder women." 

No writer who aims at clearness would use, 
in the same connection, and in the same sen- 
tence, the word King in one sense, and the 
word Queen in another. 

If the word elder is to be taken here, where 
it refers to men, as it is used generally in the 
New Testament, to denote an officer of the 
church, then must it have the same meaning 
in the same sentence where it refers to women. 

We must not change the meaning of words, 
as is done when irpeopwepog, presbuteros, is trans- 



GOVERNING. 143 



lated " elder" in one clause of this verse, and 
the same word, in the feminine form, is trans- 
lated " elder women" in another clause of the 
same sentence. This appears to be done in or- 
der to adjust this text to the theory, that wo- 
men must not have the same part as men in 
the governing of the church. 

That woman possesses the administrative 
ability to exercise properly all the governing 
power usually vested in ordained preachers of 
the Gospel, is fully demonstrated by experi- 
ence. That some women can govern well, we 
know, because some women have governed 
well. It is not a matter of theory. It is a 
demonstrated fact. Occasionally a woman has 
been placed at the head of the government of a 
country. In all such cases her administration 
will compare favorably with that of the men 
who preceded and followed her. Queen Eliza- 
beth's reign was not eclipsed by that of any 
monarch of her day. The historian Hume says 
of Elizabeth : 

" Few sovereigns of England succeeded to 
the throne in more difficult circumstances, and 
none ever conducted the government with such 
uniform success and felicity, 

" Her vigor, her constancy, her magnanimity, 
her penetration, vigilance, address, are allowed 



144 ORDAHSTING WOMEN. 

to merit the highest praises, and appear not to 
have been surpassed by any person that ever 
filled a throne. 

" Though unacquainted with the practice of 
toleration, the true secret for managing relig- 
ious factions, she preserved her people by her 
superior prudence, from those confusions in 
which theological controversy had involved all 
the neighboring nations ; and though her ene- 
mies were the most powerful princes of Europe, 
the most active, the most enterprising, the least 
scrupulous, &he was able by her vigor to make 
deep impressions on their states ; her own 
greatness, meanwhile, remained untouched and 
unimpaired. 

4< The wise ministers and brave warriors who 
flourished under her reign, share the praise of 
her success ; but instead of lessening the ap- 
plause due to her, they make great addition to 
it. They owed, all of them, their advancement 
to her choice ; they were supported by her con- 
stancy ; and, with all their abilities, they were 
never able to acquire any undue ascendant over 
her. In her family, in her court, in her king, 
dorn., she remained equally mistress."** 

Catharine II. of Russia was one ot the ablest 
monarchs of her day. She was a German 



♦History 4, 342, 3. 



GOVERNING. 145 



princess by fcrrtk. Elizabeth, Empress of Rus- 
sia, chose her to become the wife of her neph- 
ew Peter, heir to her throne. On seeing her 
betrothed, the princess was so disappointed 
that she became sick, t nd was confined to her 
bed for weeks. However, she resigned herself 
to her fate ; and was married at the age of sev- 
enteen. She applied herself to study, and mas- 
tered the Russian language, became familiar 
with the customs of the people, and won their 
affections. 

Elizabeth died January 5, 1762, and Peter 
III. ascended the throne of Russia. He ban- 
ished his wife to a separate abode, and aban- 
doned himself to drunkenness and debauchery. 
At the instigation of his mistress he formed the 
design of divorcing his wife, and raising his 
mistress to the throne. Encouraged by the 
nobles, the Archbishop proclaimed Catharine 
Empress of Russia, while Peter was lying drunk 
at his chateau twenty-four miles from St. Pe- 
tersburg. This bold undertaking met with the 
hearty approval of the people and the army. 
Her reign was a long one and did much to raise 
Russia to its high position among the nations. 
She died Nov. 10, 1796. 

u Few sovereigns," says Allison, "will oc- 
cupy a more conspicuous place in the page of 



146 OKDAINI^O WOMEN. 

history, or have left in their conduct on the 
throne, a more exalted reputation. Prudent 
in council, and intrepid in conduct, cautious 
in forming resolutions, but vigorous in carrying 
them into execution ; ambitious, but of great 
and splendid objects only ; passionately fond of 
glorv, without the alloy, at least in public 
affairs, of sordid or vulgar inclinations ; dis- 
cerning in the choice of her counsellors, and 
swayed in matters of state only by lofty intel- 
lects ; munificent in public, liberal in private, 
firm in resolution, she dignified a despot's 
throne by the magnanimity arid patriotism of 
a more virtuous age.'** 

"Victoria, Queen of England, and Empress 
of India, furnishes a still better illustration of 
the capacity of woman to govern. For, she 
has not only proved herself one of the first 
rulers of the age ; but she has given the world 
an illustrious example of noble womanhood in 
the several relations of daughter, wife and 
mother. 

When a modest, shrinking girl of eighteen, 
she was awakened early one morning, long be- 
fore day, by a visit from the Archbishop of 
Canterbury and several nobles, who came to 
salute her as Queen of England. She dropped 

* History of Europe, Vol. 1, p. 42b. 



GOVERNING. 147 



upon her knees and begged the archbishop to 
pray for her. 

On the 20th of June, 1837, as she stood man 
assembly composed of the highest nobility, 
veteran officers and statesmen of the Kingdom, 
she heard it officially proclaimed that "The 
high and mighty Princess, Alexandrina Vic- 
toria is the only lawful and rightful liege lady, 
and, by the grace of God, Queen of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, De- 
fender of the Faith." Overcome with emotion, 
she threw her arms around her mother's neck 
and burst into tears. The august assemblage 
was deeply moved. The young Queen soon 
won the hearts of her people. 

'No country of the world has been better gov- 
erned than Great Britain has, during her long 
and peaceful reign. She has manifested the 
deepest interest in the highest welfare of her 
people, has selected wise and just, and patri- 
otic men to administer the affairs of the gov- 
ernment, and has pursued an equitable policy 
towards other nations. In the general up- 
heaval among the thrones of Europe some years 
ago, hers remained secure, protected by the 
loving loyalty of her people. In her high po- 
sition, her domestic example has been a great 
blessing to the world at large, while her benefi- 



148 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

cent reign has secured for her people unparal- 
lelled prosperity. 

"Waknow," says Mill, " how small a num- 
ber of reigning queens history presents, in com- 
parison with that of Kings. Of this smaller 
number, a far larger proportion have shown 
talents for rule ; though many of them have 
occupied the throne in difficult periods. It is 
remarkable, too, that they have, in a great 
number of instances, been distinguished by 
merits the most opposite to the imaginary and 
conventional character of women ; they have 
been as much remarked for the firmness and 
vigor of their rule, as for its intelligence. 
When, to queens and empresses, we add re- 
gents, and viceroys oi provinces, the list of 
women who have been eminent rulers of man- 
kind swells to a great length." 

"liut," it is retorted, " women reign so suc- 
cessfully by placing in important offices men 
of eminent ability." 

The objection only proves the fitness of wo- 
men to govern. The highest quality of a tal- 
ent to rule, is the ability to select the most 
competent persons to fill the various subordi- 
nate offices. Napoleon not only knew how to 
plan a campaign, but he knew whom to select 
for officers to fight the battles. If woman pos- 



GO VEERING, 149 



sesses an instinctive insight into character, in 
a greater degree than man, then she is natur- 
ally, to that degree, in that respect, better fit- 
ted to fill positions of responsibility. 

If she can, as she has done, successfully fill 
the thrones of Russia and Austria and Great 
Britain, then may she, with safety, be left free 
to fill any position in the church to which she 
may be called. 

The church has no right to forbid the free 
exercise of abilities to do good which God has 
given. To do so is ursurpation and tyranny. 

Men had better busy themselves in building 
up the temple of God, instead of employing 
their time in pushing from the scaffold their 
sisters, who are both able and willing to work 
with them side by side. 

All restrictions to positions in the church 
based on race have been abolished ; it is time 
then that those based on sex were also abol 
ished. 



150 ORDAINING WOMEN. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HEATHEN TESTIMONY. 

' ' 3 small shall seem all sacrifice 

And pain and loss, 

When God shall wipe the weeping eyes, 

For suffering give the victor's prize, 

The crown for cross ! " 

— Whittier. 



LIJNY, the younger, was born in Italy in 
A. D. 62. He was praetor under the Em- 
peror Domitian, and Consul under Tiajan. He 
was sent by the latter into Pontus and Bithy- 
nia as governor. 

About the year lc7, Pliny wrote the follow- 
ing letter to the Emperor Trajan. We give the 
translation of Dr. Nathaniel Lardner : 

" Pliny to the Emperor Trajan wisheth health 
and happiness. 

" It is my constant custom, sir, to refer myself 
to you in all matters concerning which I have 
any doubt, for who can better direct me where 
I hesitate, or instruct me where I am ignorant? 
I have never been present at any trials of Chris- 
tians ; so that I know not well what is the sub- 



HEATHEN TESTIMONY. 151 

ject-matter of punishment, or of inquiry, or what 
strictness ought to be used in either. Nor have 
T been a little perplexed to determine whether 
any difference ought to be made upon account 
of age, or whether the young and tender, and 
the full-grown and robust, ought to be treated 
all alike : whether repentance should entitle to 
pardon, or whether all who have once been 
Christians ought to be punished, though they 
are now no longer so ; whether the name itself 
although no crimes be detected, or crimes only 
belonging to the name ought to be punished. 
Concerning all these things I am in doubt. 

' ' In the meantime I have taken this course 
with all who have been brought before me, and 
have been accused as Christians. I have put 
the question to them, whether they were Chris- 
tians. Upon their confessing to me that they 
were, I repeated the question a second and a 
third time, threatening also to punish them 
with death. Such as still persisted, I ordered 
away to be punished ; for it was no doubt 
with me, whatever might be the nature of their 
opinion, that contumacy, and inflexible obsti- 
nacy, ought to be punished. There were others 
of the same infatuation, whom, because they 
are Roman citizens, I have noted down to be 
sent to the city. 



152 oKDAnsrma womejst. 

"In a short time, the crime spreading itself, 
even whilst under persecution, as is usual in 
such cases, divers sorts of people came In my 
way. An information was presented to me 
without mentioning the author, containing the 
names of many persons, who upon examina- 
tion denied that they were Christians, or had 
ever been so ; who repeated after me an invo- 
cation of the gods, and with wine and frankin- 
cense made supplication to your image, which 
for that purpose I have caused to be brought 
and set before them, together with the statues 
of the deities. Moreover, they reviled the 
name of Christ. None of which things, as is 
said, they who are really Christians can by any 
means be compelled to do. These, therefore, I 
thought proper to discharge. 

" Others were named by an informer, who at 
first confessed themselves Christians, and after- 
wards denied it. The rest said they had been 
Christians, but had left them ; some three 
years ago, and some longer, Undone, or more, 
above twenty years. They all worshiped your 
image, and the statues of the gods ; these also 
reviled Christ. They affirmed that the whole 
of their fault, or error, lay in this, that they 
were wont to meet together on a stated day be- 
fore it was light, and sing among themselves 



HEATHEN" TESTIMONY. 153 

alternately, a hymn to Christ, as a G-od, and 
bind themselves by an oath, not to the com- 
mission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty 
of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to fal- 
sify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed 
to them, when called upon to return it. When 
these things were performed, it was their cus- 
tom to separate, and then to come together 
again to a meal, which, they ate in common, 
without any disorder ; but this they had for- 
borne, *ince the publication of my edict, by 
which, according to your commands, I prohib- 
ited assemblies. 

u After receiving this account I judged it the 
more necessary to examine, and that by tor- 
ture, two maid-servants, which were called 
ministers. But I have discovered nothing, be- 
side a bad and excessive superstition. 

"Suspending, therefore, all judicial proceed- 
ings, I have recourse to you for advice ; for it has 
appeared unto me a ruatter highly deserving 
consideration, especially upon account of the 
great number of persons who are in danger of 
suffering. For many of all ages, and every 
rank, of both sexes likewise, are accused, and 
will be accused. Nor has the contagion of this 
superstition seized cities only, but the lesser 
towns, also, and the open country. Neverthe- 



154 ORDAINING WOMEN. 

less, it seems to me that it may be restrained 
and corrected. It is certain that the temples, 
which were almost forsaken, begin to be more 
frequented. And the sacred solemnities, after 
a long intermission, are revived. Victims like- 
wise are everywhere bought up, whereas for 
some time there were few purchasers. Whence 
it is easy to imagine what numbers of men 
might be reclaimed, if pardon were granted to 
those who shall repent." 

So writes Pliny. We are now to observe the 
Emperor's rescript. 

" Trajan to Pliny wisheth health and happi- 
ness. 

4 'You have taken the right method, my Pliny, 
in your proceedings with those who have been 
brought before you as Christians ; for it is im- 
possible to establish any one rule that shall 
hold universally. They are not to be sought 
for, If any are brought before you, and are 
convicted, they ought to be punished. How- 
ever, he that denies his being a Christian, and 
makes it evident in fact, that is, by supplicating 
to our gods, though he be suspected to have 
been so formerly, let him be pardoned up^n 
repentance. But in no case of any crime what- 
ever, may a bill of information be received 
without being signed by him who presents it ; 



HEATHEN TESTIMONY. 155 

for that would be a dangerous precedent, and 
unworthy of my government." 

There are many things in this letter of Pliny 
of great importance. 

1. It shows the great influence that Chris- 
tianity was already exerting upon the minds of 
the people. The temples of the gods were al- 
most forsaken. Christianity spread so rapidly 
that it was called a contagion. It affected alike 
cities and towns and the open country. 

2. It is a striking testimony to the purity of 
the character of these Christians. Though 
their enemies, to justify their treatment of 
them, accused them of gross crimes, a strict 
investigation resulted in finding that their lives 
were blameless and their adherence to the doc- 
trines and morals of the Gospel firm and un- 
wavering. They bound themselves by an oath, 
not to the commission of any wickedness, but 
not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adul- 
tery, never to falsify their word, nor to deny a 
pledge committed to them, when called upon to 
return it. 

3. It shows that they held to the doctrine of 
the Divinity of Christ. They sang hymns to 
Christ as a God. 

4. But the point to which I wish to call par- 
ticular attention is the fact that the Ministers 



156 okdahstistg women. 

of this church were women. This is seen — 1. 
In Pliny's express statement, " which were 
called ministers." That women are meant is 
perfectly clear in the Latin word, ministrae, 
which is in the feminine gender. That this 
word is not. ui-ed to designate their condition is 
plain ; for that is expressed by the word ancil- 
Z/s— maid servan:s. 2. He would naturally 
examine the officers of the church. 

Here is a governor possessed of arbitrary 
power. A hated, despised society is charged 
witli secretly holding pernicious doctrines, and 
practicing abominable i\.tes. 

The governor is determined to go to the root 
of the matter, and ascertain the truth in the 
case. He examines witnesses in the usual way, 
and finds ouc nothing to their disadvantage. 
He now determines to adopt the last resort 
known to ancient despots, and to examine by 
torture. But who shall he examine? Who 
would he naturally select as being in posses- 
sion of all the secrets of the society ? 

Evidently those who occupy the highest po- 
sition in the society, who understand all its 
mysteries, and are acquainted with all its do- 
ings — its officers or teaciiers. So, too, when 
Pliny says that these two women were called 
ministers, he uses the term minister in the sense 



HEATHEN TESTIMONY. 157 

in which the Christians understood it — in the 
ecclesiastical sense. He does not himself call 
them " ministers;" if he did, it might be 
claimed that he uses the word in its secular 
sense, "a female attendant or assistant," 
thougli in the classics it is sometimes used to 
denote a " ministress at religious worship." 
But Pliny says, "they are called ministers," 
that is, by the Christians. 

Nothing is said in this letter about bishops, 
or elders or deacons, or any other church offi- 
cers. 

It is not to be supposed that a man of Pliny' s 
ability and learning, and discrimination would 
give his Emperor a carefully prepared descrip- 
tion cf a Christian church and make > no men- 
tion of its officers or teachers. And he certainly 
does not unless these women were officers or 
teachers, or, as they were called, ministers. 

Women, it seems, could be ministers of the 
church at this early age, while it was poor and 
persecuted, but afterwards, when it became 
rich and popular, they were set aside. 



158 ordaining women. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CONCLUSION. 

11 What are we, what our race, 

How good for nothing and base, 

Without fair woman to aid us ? 

What could we do, where should we go, 

How should we wander in night and wo, 

But for woman to lead us ! " 

Crisioval DeCastillejo, 

a. d. 1590. 

* 

JfN the preceding pages the following propo- 
;f sitions have been clearly proved. 

1. Man and woman were created equal, each 
possessing the same rights and privileges as 
the other. 

2. At the fall, woman, because she was first 
in the transgression, was, as a punishment, 
made subject to her husband. 

3. Christ re-enacted the primitive law and 
restored the original relation of equality of the 
sexes. 

4. The objections to the equality of man and 
woman in the Christian Church, based upon the 
Bible, rest upon a wrong translation of some 
passages and a misinterpretation of others. 



conclusion. 159 



The objections drawn from woman's nature 
are fully overthrown by undisputed facts. 

5. In the New Testament church, woman, as 
well as man, filled the office of Apostle, Pro- 
phet, Deacon or preacher, and Pastor. There 
is not the slightest evidence that the functions 
of any of these offices, when filled by a woman, 
were different from what they were when filled 
by a man. 

6. Woman took a part in governing the 
Apostolic church. 

We come, then, to this final conclusion : 
The Gospel of Jesus Christ, in the pro- 
visions WHICH IT MAKES, AND IN THE AGEN- 
cies which it employs, for the salva- 
tion of mankind, knows no distinction 
of race, condition, or sex, therefore no 
person evidently called of god to the 
Gospel ministry, and duly qualified for 
it, should be refused ordination on ac- 
count of race, condition, or sex. 



INDEX OF TEXTS. 



Gen. 1, 26-27, 
" 2,18. 
11 3, 16, 
" 3, 15 . 
44 3, 15, 
44 2C, 7, . 
Ex. 15, 20 
Ju<lges 4. 4, 

1 Sam. 10.10, 

2 Kings 22, 14, 
Ps. 68, 11, 
Micah 6. 4, . 
Nahnm 6.14, 
Matt. 19, 4, . 

" 23, 11. 

" 28.19-20, 
Luke 2. 36, . 

44 10, 2, 

44 15, 22, 
John 2, 5-9, 

" i*, n, 

'' 17,17, 

Acts 1, 15-26, 

" 1,14, 

" 1,14, 

" 1, 22, 

11 1, 26, 

" 2, 17, 

" 2, 18, 

" 5, 14, , 

" 6. 1-6, . 

" 6 2-6, . 

'• 6.3, 

44 6, 6, 

44 6. 8, . 

" 8,3, 

" 8, 12. . 

44 8, 18-24, . 

44 9,20, . 



I AGE 

r.o 

49 

50 
51 
86 
89 
52 
53 
90 
51 
87 
l o 

53 
51 
95 

119 
89 
3) 

14> 

95 

9 

9 

2? 

57 

140 

140 
80 

142 
83 
57 
93 
38 

141 

141 
93 
57 
57 
33 
42 





PAGE 




PAGE 


'' 10,47, . 


29 


44 8,23, . 


. 80 


" 13. 1-3, . 


. 42 


Gal. 3, 13, 


. 51 


44 13, 2-3 


27 


44 3, 28, . 


55 


41 14 4-14, . 


. 82 


44 3, 28, 


. 57 


" 14, 14. . 


80 


Eph, 3, 7, . 


94 


" 14.21, . 


. 41 


44 4, 11-12, . 


. 91 


41 19.2-6, . . 


2^ 


" 5,2, . 


36 


44 19, 39, . 


. 95 


Pil.1,1, . . 


. 94 


44 19 32-39-41, 


21 


44 2,25, . 


80 


" 20, 17-43, . 


40 


4i 4,3, 


. 62 


44 21, 8, . 


. 94 


Col. 1 23, . 


91 


44 26, 16-18, . 


27 


1 These. 2, 6, . 


. 82 


Romans 12 1, 


uO 


3, 2, 


94 


'■ 16,8-4,. 


63 


1 Tim. 2, 13, . 


. 48 


16, 12, 


. 63 


44 2,11-12. 


60 


16, 7, . 


80 


44 2. 12, 


139 


16. 7, . 


. 83 


44 2. 9, . 


. 64 


" 16, 1, . 


96 


" 2. 7 . 


85 


1 Cor 3, 5, . 


. 94 


" 3, 11, . 


97, 101 


4 11,23-26, . 


30 


44 3. 11, 


102 


44 11,26, . 


. S3 


" 3, 9, 


105 


44 11,27, 


33 


44 3, 10, . 


. 119 


44 11, 8-9, . 


. 48 


44 5, 17, . 


. Ill 


" H,7, 


49 


'* 5, 1, 


142 


44 11.5, . 


. 61 


Titu* 1, 5-7, . 


. 41 


44 12, 23, 


79 


44 2,3, . 


103 


44 12. 28, . 


. 91 


Heb. 5, 1, 


. 34 


" 14, 3, 


. 63 


44 7, 26-27, . 


35 


" 14, 3, 


90 


44 8, 3, . 


31 


44 14. 34, 


. 65 


" 10, 12, . 


. 31 


14 14.33, . 


. 65 


44 13, 16' . 


. 36 


44 14, 28, 


65 


" 13,15, 


36 


44 14, 32. . 


. 65 


1 Pet. 2, 5, . 


. 35 


4> 14, 34, 


65 


44 2, 9, . 


35 


44 14,34-35, 


. 60 


44 5.3, 


. 139 


44 15,46, . 


. 22 


44 5, 5, . . 


142 


2 Cor. 3, 6, . . 


94 


2 Pet. 3, 15, . 


. 64 


44 8,23, . 


. 82 


1 John 5, 18, 


112 


44 8, 18, 


82 


Rev. 2, 1, . . 


. i>5 



B^7 



(, 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



